1 1--^- :-••■• rr- 



^■Xj'-iTj -r :'. 



ri3- • ■jtT^7i':z.~'-^. .".J 






ii;iEiA!i- "-•4- livij". 



?M-^^ 






y 




Class __- 



Book j \ cJ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




AucL'sT 21, 1824 -July 2, 191 i 



THE NEW METHOD OV 
EDUCATION 



WITH ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES, EXTRACTS FROM 

SCHOOL DOCUMENTS, AND A CATALOGUE 

OF THE NORMAL HIGH SCHOOL 



By WILLIAM L. WHITTEMORE 



JSliti) Iflnnovinl iltJtiirss 



THK lUKi's coi.i.i-:(;k press 
191 1 






Copyright, 1911 
The Tufts College Press 



;,'. 



C/CI.A3u'Jo80 



1 OFFER THIS TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE 

TO THE MEMORY OF 

LOUIS AGASSIZ 

MY FIRST TEACHER IN THE ORDER 

OF NATURE 



PUBLISHERS' NOTE 

The late Professor Alpheus Hyatt and others 
urged Mr. Whittemore to describe his school-room 
methods and put them into permanent form. With 
this desire of his friends in mind, he preserved much 
written work of many children, and several years 
ago published in the columns of a local paper the 
school exercises which, with some changes and 
additions, now appear as "Illustrative Examples." 
He published the "Historical Sketch" in the same 
weekly newspaper, and in 1908 began to reprint these 
articles, together with certain school documents, 
under the title of " The New Method of Education." 

While this part of the book was in process he was 
at work upon "General Principles" which he did 
not live to complete. 

October 1911. 



ADDRESS IN MEMORY OF 
WILLIAM LEWIS WHITTEMORE 
AT THE FUNERAL SERVICE 
IN THE UNITARIAN CHURCH 
MILFORD, N. H., JULY 5, 1911 
BY ALBERT E. PILLSBURY 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS 

If this is a departure from the usual forms, it is 
an unusual occasion. William Lewis Whittemore, 
who disappears from this community with which he 
has been identified for upward of half a century, was 
a remarkable character. There is no other like him 
in the history of the town. He survived the genera- 
tion that first knew him here, and dwelt for the space 
of another generation among those who knew him 
little or not at all. Perhaps he was always best 
known and beloved among his own pupils. At the 
desire of some of them who would lay their wreath of 
remembrance upon his grave, I attempt to speak of 
him to-day as they knew him. 

About three score and ten years ago he came out 
of the Lyndeborough woods an untutored country lad, 
endowed by nature with a clairvoyant eye for science 
and a divine gift of instruction. Few teachers of 
pronounced genius have appeared in this country, or 
perhaps in any other. The genius of this man for 
teaching was as native and certain as the genius of 
Whittier for song or Powers for sculpture. It was 
recognized at sight by the greatest teacher, borrowed 
from Europe, this country ever knew, and the en- 
couragement of Agassiz helped to fix him upon the 
vocation to which he was unmistakably called. 



VIII MEMORIAL ADDRESS 

For his own education he seems to have selected 
teachers rather than schools. Among them he always 
spoke of William Russell with particular respect, but 
the most notable part of his training was at the 
Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University, 
under the personal direction of Agassiz and Hors- 
ford. They were so quick to see his merits that they 
opened to him not only the facilities of the school, 
but their private laboratories, with their personal 
assistance and intimacy. He studied the sciences 
with them, and the science of teaching, before 
it had occurred to people in general that there is 
such a science. Drinking at this spring, his thirst 
for a knowledge of scientific education was only stim- 
ulated. It became the object of his life, and he went 
abroad twenty years later for extended study of the 
educational systems of Europe. 

He first tried his hand as a teacher in the district 
schools of his own and neighboring towns, and after 
some 3'ears of this apprenticeship he came to Milford 
in 1855 and took charge of the high school. It was 
soon after the erection of the School street building, 
now discredited as the "old brick," but then the 
wonder of the town. For the next dozen years 
Milford had, under his tuition, probably the best high 
school in New Hampshire, and if there has been a 
better anywhere I have never seen or heard of it. 



WILLIAM LEWIS WIIITTP^MORR IX 

There are no more competent judges of the merit of 
the school than the hundreds of his old pupils. They 
have had half a century, more or less, to prove what 
it did for them, and they are of one accord that he 
was the ideal teacher. He was a deep student of 
nature, especially of natural history and geology to 
which his tastes inclined, but equally adept and 
skilful in all branches of instruction. Of his views 
of scientific education I say nothing, as he has be- 
queathed them to the public in his own words. It is 
my purpose only to speak of him as we saw him. 

His methods in the school were a revelation then, 
and I suspect that in most schools they would be a 
revelation now. They were masterly, but never 
school-masterly. There was no cramming, no mem- 
orizing, no teaching or learning of anything by rote 
or rule of thumb. The school was a place for the 
development of the mind. Every pupil had to do his 
own thinking and give his own reasons. It was of no 
use to know a fact unless the whole meaning of the 
fact was known. It was of no use to work out a 
problem unless every step in the process, every why 
and wherefore, could be explained. What is the 
longest river ? The Mississippi. But we could not 
leave the Mississippi until we knew all about it, its 
discovery, its traditions, its commerce, its part in the 
history of the country. What is a straight line ? 



X MEMORIAL ADDRESS 

The shortest distance between two points. In 
another school this would be the end of it, but on 
that straight line he would lay open the whole science 
of geometry. For text-books he had little respect, 
and they played but a minor part in his system. He 
taught from nature, from the fields, the woods, rocks, 
and streams, the home, the shop, the street, the daily 
newspaper, from which he used to read and draw us 
into discussion upon it. I remember that he took 
occasion of a thunder-shower one afternoon to tell us 
more about electricity than I have ever learned since 
in an age of electrical science. He was a master of 
the neglected art of reading, for which he had every 
qualification, a rich and resonant voice, perfect utter- 
ance, and a soul in tune with the highest themes, and 
he rarely selected any other. He made the scripture 
reading with which he used to open the school the most 
impressive religious service I ever saw. It was usu- 
ally from the Old Testament, and to hear the tones 
of majesty in which he would deliver the Ninetieth 
Psalm or other favorites was like sitting at the feet of 
David. 

Perhaps his example was not less striking or fruit- 
ful than his precept. And of this let me say first, in 
view of the cigarette and cocktail type of school-mas- 
ter which has succeeded him, that there was nothing 
in his example that could not profitably be followed. 



WILLIAM LKWIS WHITTEMORE XI 

He had none of the fashionable vices that are now 
thought proper to be sown broadcast by the heads of 
schools and colleges. Raised a countr}' boy in a 
backwoods town, little if ever in contact with polished 
society which did not attract him, he had the man- 
ner and the manners, no less than the morals, of a 
born gentleman, in the only proper sense of that 
mucli-perverted term. Native dignity, without a 
a sign or suggestion of the pompous or pretentious, 
was a part of him. Even the clothes he wore seemed 
to be a part of him, and it was an attire rarely seen 
in a country village then, or anywhere now. None 
who saw him in his prime will ever forget him. 
Would that I could sketch the picture as well as I 
remember it. Tall, lithe, straight as an arrow, quick 
of step and movement, a stately head, with piercing 
eyes and coal-black flowing hair and beard, he 
dressed habitually in faultless silk hat, black frock- 
coat, silk or velvet waistcoat, grey trousers and 
patent-leather shoes. These things appear out of 
place on some men. It did not seem as though Mr. 
Whittemore could wear anything else. He was the 
portrait of a gentleman, a figure at which people 
would have turned to look in the streets of any city 
in the world. 

Like most original thinkers, he was in advance of 
his time. The people could not follow so fast as he 



XII MEMORIAI, ADDRESS 

would lead. Dissensions arose about the school. He 
was stigmatized as a theorist. There were people 
who would have called him a crank, if that term had 
been invented. Some of his innovations were so rad- 
ical as to attract sharp if ignorant criticism. Finally, 
various petty discontents were brought together in 
a movement against him, hardly more creditable 
in form than in purpose, that resulted in forcing 
him from the school. Master of his own art, he 
could not encounter the town-meeting champions, and 
when the school was dragged into the pit of town 
politics, he retired from an ungrateful contest in 
which he would have esteemed victory no better than 
defeat. 

He met the new situation by opening in Milford a 
private normal school. It was popular and success- 
ful, but after a few years he abandoned it to his de- 
sire for travel and study in Europe. Returning home 
after a year's absence, he was called to the charge of 
various schools and science classes, principally in 
Boston, and after many years in that field of service 
he retired from active work some twenty years ago 
or more, to spend the remainder of his days in this 
village. 

He was never taken at his true value, here or else- 
where. The world never found him out. Doctor of 
Science by higher authority than the universities, no 



WIIvI^IAM LEWIS WHITTEMORE XIII 

college ever claimed his service, or gave him its degree. 
He was left to comparative obscurity, and his buried 
talents largely went to waste. It was not wholly the 
fault of those about him. To those who knew him well 
there was no more kindly or companionable man or 
interesting character, but he was by nature and tem- 
perament shy and retiring if not reserved. He was 
too modest for self-assertion, and perhaps too sensitive 
for successful contact with the world. His tastes 
were the tastes of the scholar, for study, which leads 
to seclusion, and in his advancing age the hermit 
habit grew upon him until his life became almost sol- 
itary. He was never a " mixer," much less a " hus- 
tler " ; indeed in his time these valued products of 
our own day had not appeared. He always felt the 
duty of service, but he never would put himself for- 
ward. He eould easily have been drawn into the 
public activities for which he had such superior gifts. 
He had only to be asked, and he was not asked. 
With an unsurpassed knowledge of schools and edu- 
cational systems, he was but once, I believe, made a 
member of the school committee. Familiar with 
books, and thoroughly understanding the educational 
and other uses of the public library, he was never 
placed upon the library board. A few years ago he 
made the town a generous offer of contribution to a 
street improvement near his premises, for which there 



XIV MEMORIAL ADDRESS 

was a crying need. In return for his public spirit, 
the town gave him denial and detraction. He bore 
it in silence and without complaint, but it worked 
deeply upon his feelings and I do not think he ever 
recovered from it. Thus did his neighbors and 
townspeople deal with a man who would have 
adorned a chair in any college or brought distinction 
to any community that knew how to utilize him. It 
is not agreeable to recall these things, but we speak 
of the dead only for the benefit of the living. Neglect 
and injustice can hurt him no more. The measure 
of the public loss will never be taken, but the example 
stands, for instruction if not for reproof. 

Of Mr. Whittemore's religious views I speak with 
difl&dence, but it is customary, and he would have 
nothing kept back. I suppose that we have all 
observed a tendency in the clergy, if my friend 
beside me here will pardon the remark, to 
make the departed a devout Christian who perhaps 
was never under suspicion of piety by his nearest 
friends. It may be a harmless hypocrisy, but stand- 
ing by the body of our old friend I would make no 
professions for him dead that he did not make for 
himself living. He was not what would commonly 
be accounted a religious man. If he ever was con- 
nected with any church, he had no active or visible 
connection with any in his later years. I think that 



WILLIAM LEWIS WHITTEMORE XV 

all churches aud creeds were much alike to him, and 
I am sure that he had little respect for professions, 
and none for pretences, of piety. He rarely talked 
of religion, and I take the absence of lip-service as 
one evidence, at least, that he had a religious nature. 
He was a reader of the Bible. He must have felt in 
his soul the solemn majesty and authority of some of 
the Hebrew scriptures, and I believe that he accepted 
the precepts of the New Testament as a perfect moral 
code for a regenerated world, and tried to make them 
the guide of his life. He did what the prophet says 
the Lord required of him, to do justly, love mercy 
and walk humbly and without guile before God and 
man. Perhaps his view of outward religion is ex- 
pressed by the familiar lines in which Pope gave the 
world a creed to which increasing numbers adhere : 

" For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight ; 
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right." 

I cannot take leave of my old preceptor without 
acknowledging my great debt to him. With later 
experience of two academies, and a college, I can 
truly say that all I ever learned in schools and was 
able to keep, or found worth keeping, was learned 
from him. I see here to-day as many, perhaps, of 
his old flock as are likely to meet again in this world, 
and it cannot be unwelcome to them if I express what 
must be the common feeling, a sense of grateful and 



XVI MEMORIAL ADDRESS 

affectionate obligation for the lasting benefits received 
at his hand. He did not try to educate us. He did 
better. With deeper insight, he taught us to use 
our own faculties in educating ourselves, the begin- 
ning and the end of real education, and if we have 
not profited by the lesson it is no fault of the master. 
It is the good fortune of the teacher that the stuff 
in which he works is not of clay, but imperishable. 
His material is the human mind, the youthful mind, 
plastic and sensitive, " wax to receive and marble to 
retain." Every pupil becomes a new center of his 
influence, taking up his work, perhaps unconsciously, 
and carrying it out to a wider circle and on to a new 
age. His harvest is reaped only to be resown and 
gathered an hundred fold. Such was the happy lot of 
our old mentor and friend to whom we now bid fare- 
well. So shall he live again, long after his body 
has mingled with its native dust, as the seed of his 
sowing blossoms anew and bears fruit in regions 
which his foot never trod, for those who never heard 
the sound of his name. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Memorial Address v-xvi 

Introduction xix— xxii 

PART I 
General Principles and Historical Sketch . . . 1—36 

PART II 
Illustrative Exami'LEs 1-87 

PART III 
School Rei-orts i-ioo 



INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION 

In 1852 the author was a student in Harvard 
College, and while working under the direction of 
Professor Louis Agassiz he became interested in the 
" new" or scientific method of education. From that 
time, during nearly forty years, he labored as student 
and teacher to understand that method better, and to 
put it into practice in the school room. 

The purpose of this book is to state in brief what 
the author believes to be the principles of the new 
method of education and to give some idea by exam- 
ples as to how those principles were applied in his 
own school. 

The last one hundred pages of the book consist of 
school documents which have been reprinted in order 
to show through what difi&culties the new method 
of education has been obliged to force its way to 
the small measure of success it has achieved in our 
public schools. 

People are satisfied with the old ways long after 
better ways have been discovered and demonstrated, 
not only in the domain of education, but in every field 
where progress is possible. As an illustration, the 
story of the locomotive may be told in a few words. 

About the middle of the seventeenth century several 
men from European Universities and Scientific Soci- 



XXII INTRODUCTION 

eties combined their efforts to utilize the invention of 
Hero, made eighteen hundred years before. As Hero 
could turn a wheel rapidly by steam-power, these 
men believed that by study and experiment steam 
could be made to move a system of wheels and 
machinery and accomplish work. Their success 
was sufficient to encourage others to take up 
the work in the eighteenth century, among them 
James Watt, whose great genius and persistent work 
for many years gave to the world the modern steam- 
engine which is to-day doing the work of millions of 
men. 

In the early part of the last century another great 
genius, George Stephenson of England, added to the 
work of Watt, and in thirty years of wonderful suc- 
cess, the engine became a powerful locomotive, moving 
trains of cars from city to city. People who wished 
to travel could sit comfortably as in any house 
and travel further in one hour than they had ever 
been able to go in a long, tedious day. But there 
was only one in ten thousand who wanted any help 
from Stephen.son. He was hindered in every way and 
derided by the best people of England for years 
after he had proved to himself that the power for 
a locomotive was in his engine. 



PART I 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES 
HISTORICAL SKETCH 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES 

There are two, and only two, methods of education 
in the world — the scientific method and the literary 
method. All variations are easily classified in one or 
the other of these two methods. The basis of the 
scientific method, often called the new education, is 
all nature and all art. The basis of the literary 
method is books. Books constitute a very important 
branch 6f art ; hence books are included for all they 
are worth, in the scientific method. But wherever 
books are made the basis of education, civilization 
remains nearly stationary. This has been the condi- 
tion of China for centuries, and of South America 
from the earliest European settlements. Books can 
never yield that kind of knowledge which has trans- 
formed European and American civilization during 
the last two hundred years. 

How did this broad wave of mental force which has 
given us all modern civilization, originate ? What 
are the principles on which it depends, and what are 
the laws of its progress ? 

The men who accomplished this work prepared 
themselves for it by reading a volume ever open to 
us all, a book in which the letters are suns and 
worlds, the forces which build the elements into living 
forms, and all the varied phenomena of nature. They 



4 THE NEW METHOD 

were such men as Newton, Morse and Watt, and they 
worked mainly according to the method of the 
Arabian schools of the seventh to the tenth centuries. 

The principles of this method, the scientific method, 
are few and simple, and so in harmony with the laws of 
human development, that the youngest child in our 
schools is delighted in their daily use, and ascends 
the hill of science and sound learning without weari- 
ness, finding every lesson as interesting and health- 
ful as play itself. In accord with these principles 
the human race has made all its progress. 

In the following six or eight pages the attempt is 
made to suggest in a few instances the application of 
these principles to the mental development of the child 
and to the development of the race from barbarism. 

The objects which are the most essential to our 
well-being are those which are the most interesting : 
the rising and setting sun, the revolving stars and 
planets, a million species of living things, plant and 
animal, gems innumerable "of purest ray serene." 
These objects all remind us that we inhabit a 
world of cause and effect — a world in which eternal 
and* unchanging laws encircle us, and reign supreme. 
Since we live in a realm of law, how shall we study 
and comprehend it ? 

We must go down into principles — into nature, 
and proceed at every step in accordance with the 



OF EDUCATION 5 

nature of the child. Through the years between in- 
fancy and the school age, the child shows us in a de- 
cided way the direction in which nature impels him 
and guides his activities, and hence, the direction in 
which we ought to help him to go. To the child, the 
sky, the great blue dome which bends over the land- 
scape, is a real canopy directly over his playgrounds. 
Here he is delighted all day long in every object of 
sense — in every novelty of sound, color and form, in 
every bird, beast and insect, in the beautiful forms 
and colors of plants and flowers, in the moving clouds ; 
and even the solid earth and sand and pebbles he 
treads upon — all are objects of interest, objects of 
study, and of wonder. Here in the realities of the 
world, so near at hand, are the perfect lessons for 
intellectual and moral culture, infinite in number and 
variety, created and perpetually renewed by Infinite 
Wisdom, for infinite good. 

Something of every science and art should be 
learned by children as soon as they can put it to use. 
This is the best, if not the only way of making facts 
permanent and always available. It is the child's 
nature to observe, and as soon as he can talk he wants 
to tell every detail of his observation and experience. 
This oral report seems to be an essential part of his 
life. He continually brings the words he has learned 
into use, and this gives him complete success in ex- 



6 THE NEW METHOD 

pressing his ideas in words. In school the child must 
soon begin to widen and improve his method by 
recording the results of observation in writing and 
drawing. This very soon interests him even more 
than his oral method, which will still be useful 
to him. 

All nature is a unit, and the science of nature is 
only one science. The division of science into a 
dozen branches is right in the advanced stages of 
education, but in primar}^ and grammar schools it is 
absurd, and fatal to progress. In all grades below 
the high school all studies are to be correlated, and 
learned as one subject. Children are always in- 
terested in this work, and they make easy and rapid 
progress in the arts of reading, spelling, writing, com- 
position, punctution, drawing, and use of capitals, 
as well as in every branch of science. 

Whatever a child learns in school should be 
organized for his immediate use. Each lesson must 
involve principles which can be used, and will be used 
in the child's free activities, in school and out of 
school. So far as it goes a child's education must 
always be complete. From the beginning it must be 
a little system of philosophy for the child's use : and 
it must be so pleasing and attractive to him, that 
he will always want to extend and widen it. The 
government of such a school is very easy ; for children 



OF EDUCATION 7 

do not get out of order when their work is more 
interesting than pla3^ 

The basis of a child's education must be his own 
observation, and not the observation of another who 
has written a book or a reading lesson for him. He 
wants original ideas, not second-hand ideas. He 
is not satisfied with the shadows of ideas which come 
through words. By oral instruction and reading he 
may derive interesting and useful information, but 
information is not education, it is not intellectual 
power, without which all education is radically de- 
fective. True education comes mainly through the 
inductive method. Every child, in the freedom of 
nature, intuitively educates himself in this method. 
He correlates and organizes impressions of all kinds 
through all the years preceding the school age, and 
he enters school with his education well begun. He 
has learned something of every branch of science, 
and at the same time has learned a language more 
thoroughly and in less time than the schools have 
yet been able to teach one. He has learned more of 
his environment than he will ever learn in school in 
the same length of time. The reason for his wonder- 
ful advance in education in these years of early child- 
hood, is because his method has been natural instead 
of artificial. 

All the great branches of learning should be intro- 



8 THE NEW METHOD 

duced during the first week of school, not by separate 
lessons in each, but all combined in nature study. 
As all parts of the world are interwoven with each 
other, so are all branches of science intimately con- 
nected, and must be presented to the child as a single 
subject. The time for children to learn the spelling, 
meaning, and use of words is when they have occa- 
sion to use them to express their own original ideas. 
The same may be said of grammar, arithmetic, and 
all other branches to be studied before the age of 
twelve. True education from the first is a many-sided 
unit, and each side is kept bright by constant use. 

Among the popular criticisms upon our schools, 
there have been complaints of too many branches of 
study ; but really there is but one subject in the true 
method. It is natural for children to play ; but in 
play they do many different things in a single game. 
They use the sense of sight, the sense of hearing ; 
they walk, run, jump, talk, laugh and sing. Chil- 
dren's play is made up of many parts, just as a lesson 
in school has, or ought to have, many parts or kinds 
of activity. 

In the true methods of school work, the teacher 
must observe the law of nature or his work will be a 
failure. He must do nothing for the child that the 
child can do for himself. General information may 
be derived from books and oral instruction, but these 



OF EDUCATION 9 

can never give intellectual and moral power, which 
are the essential elements of true education. Until 
the child educates himself by his own efforts, wisely 
guided by the teacher, he will be very poorly educated. 

The study of nature in our schools awakens the 
child into intellectual life, and establishes in him the 
love of the beautiful, the true and the good. It en- 
ables the teacher to organize all branches of study 
into one symmetrical science, in which each branch 
helps to give meaning and interest to all the others. 
It converts the unnatural and wearing drudgery of 
the school room into the most delightful and health- 
ful work both for the teacher and the pupils. It 
gives us health and strength by alluring us into the 
pure air and varied scenery of the open landscape, 
for the observation of natural objects and phenomena, 
and the collection of material for study. 

The study of nature enlivens the imagination and 
awakens the latent energies of the child, — adds 
strength to his body, variety', activity and vigor to 
his mind. Besides saving the child from artificial 
stupidity so commonly produced by the arbitrary 
methods of the old education, it enables him to learn 
more in reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling in 
one week, than he can learn in a month in the 
common method. 

In our search for true methods in education we 



lO THE NEW METHOD 

find perfect models in nature's method of educating 
the human race in its first steps in civilization. Na- 
ture does absolutely nothing for man that he can 
possibly do for himself ; but the infinite sources of 
light and truth, with all their beauties and harmonies, 
are ever all about him, to educate him, to elevate his 
thoughts and help him to attain to wisdom. 

There was a time when our ancestors saw nothing 
around them but wild nature. There was no art. 
There were no tools of any kind to assist the savage 
in making a beginning in art. He had within him 
the germ of all art — the germ of all science; but 
without the stimulus of environment that germ could 
no more expand and raise him out of his savage 
state, than the acorn can become the stately oak 
without the light and heat of the sun. 

The awakening of man's dormant faculties into ac- 
tivity is and always has been the one condition of his 
improvement. Nature's laboratories were in full 
operation preparing for the coming of man long ages 
before his advent. Although the primitive man 
was ignorant of everything over head, around him, 
and under foot, the crust of the earth was a great 
storehouse of perfect material for the architect, the 
sculptor, the painter, the blacksmith, the copper- 
smith and the goldsmith. 

Just as long as man remained ignorant of the 



OF EDUCATION I I 

properties of these things, and other products of 
nature, he was to remain a naked savage, sharing 
the world equally with the wild and hungry 
beasts that howled around him. He was at liberty 
to wait a thousand years, or a thousand centuries. 
Houses to protect him by night from the lion 
and the tiger, and from the cold storm, would 
not spring up out of the ground for him. Nor 
would clothing or needles and thread, nor tools for 
the architect grow on trees. Nature had done all 
that ought to be done, and could wait for man to join 
his work with hers. Then, and not till then, could 
the arts have even the rudest beginning. This was 
the one condition of progress, and is to-day the one 
condition of progressive civilization. 

In the la.st analysis, man's observation in nature, 
or what we call nature study, is the sure and only 
foundation and source of all civilization, the source 
of all science, all art. The savage who first observed 
that rocks are brittle, and can be broken down to a 
cutting edge, was the father of all sculptors. His 
stone hatchet, so useful at that time, is of no value 
now except as a curiosity and a help in the study of 
archaeology. We can hardly realize how rude were 
the beginnings of all man's grandest achievements. 

Architecture is one of the oldest and mo.st impor- 
tant of the arts. Through innumerable little improve- 



12 THE NKW METHOD 

meuts at long intervals, it has reached a good degree 
of excellence, and it is improving faster than ever. 

The barbarian who built the first house finished it 
in one day. With a modern axe he could have done 
it in one hour ; but his axe was only a sharp stone, 
and he used his hand and arm for the handle. 

The primitive house had a ridge-pole, and that is 
the only part of it that has come down to our time. 
Each end of the pole rested on the branch of a tree, 
and for the walls of the house small evergreen trees 
stood leaning toward each other and the pole. The 
builder was well pleased with his house and thought 
it was" perfect. But on a cold morning a month later 
the children were found covered with snow which 
had sifted through in the high wind. This set the 
architect to thinking how to improve his house and 
keep his family dry and warm. At last the way to 
do it dawned upon him, and soon he was bringing 
hemlock boughs to weave thick into the walls. For 
a while the house was again thought to be perfect. 
But on a very cold day a fire was needed, and the dry 
resinous boughs were soon in flames. 

The next plan was a fire-proof house. Rocks were 
piled one upon another for the walls ; but open spaces 
between them let in the cold air and snow. A happy 
thought the next rainy day resulted in plastering 
the house with mud. Soon as the mud was dry it 
crumbled away and left the walls as they were before. 



OF EDUCATION I 3 

After some Study and experimenting with mud from 
several places a sample was found which contained 
a little clay mixed with the sand, and this became 
so hard and firm on drying that it lasted a long time. 

These little occasional improvements of many kinds 
continued for centuries, slowly improving the house, 
increasing the cost, and making the architect's work 
more complex. 

Thus it has been with every branch of art and 
science from the rudest beginning, and thus it will 
continue, for every branch is progressive. 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 

The most wonderful of all civilizatious that have yet 
appeared in the world is that of Greece. The Greeks 
not only originated nearly all branches of science and 
art on which modern civilization rests, but they dis- 
covered the methods which have made real progress 
in education possible. More than two thousand years 
ago the science of education was the culmination of 
their glory. At that time the school-masters were 
considered the true luminaries of the world, and they 
were honored above all other men. Only the bright- 
est intellects, the most learned, the wisest and best 
men could become teachers. 

About six hundred years before Christ the phi- 
losophy of the Greeks was becoming more philosophic. 
Each generation was correcting the errors of the past, 
and civilization was reaching a higher standard. 
Three men of learning and genius, vSolon, the Law- 
giver, Thales and Pythagoras, philosophers and 
teachers, appeared at the same time. They gave 
their energies to the cause of education and philan- 
thropy. The disciples of these wise men became the 
teachers of Socrates ; Socrates was the teacher of 
Plato ; Plato was the teacher of Aristotle ; Aristotle 
was the teacher of Alexander the Great, and the first 
to illustrate all the principles of the new education. 



I 6 THE NEW METHOD 

With Solon, Thales, and Pythagoras, came the dawn 
of Greek science, which culminated in Theophrastus, 
Aristotle, Archimedes and the Athenian and Alex- 
andrian schools. Thus, three hundred years of un- 
paralleled progress had established in Athens, and in 
Alexandria, the educational methods found in the best 
schools of Europe and America at the present time. 
In many things the noted Greek teachers all differed ; 
but all agreed that real philosophy comes to ns through 
the diligent search after wisdom in the book of nature ; 
and that all men ought to reflect in their lives the im- 
age of that order and harmony by which the universe 
is sustained and regulated. 

Theophrastus was the first scientific writer upon 
botany and mineralogy that the world ever produced. 
He wrote five volumes upon minerals, and ten upon 
plants. 

Aristotle was the father of zoology. He wrote fifty 
volumes upon the animal kingdom. Archimedes 
and Euclid were the greatest of ancient mathema- 
ticians, and have never been excelled. Pythagoras, 
Apollonius, Hipparchus, and Aristarchus explained 
the solar system as we understand it to-day. But their 
wisdom was completely smothered in Europe by the 
long dark ages. 

Aristotle was born B. C. 384. He was a pupil of 
Plato for twenty years in the great school at Athens, 
and then had charge of the same school. He soon 



OF KDUCATION 1 7 

received a letter from Philip, the King of Macedon, 
as follows : "Be informed, O Aristotle, that I have a 
son, and that I am thankful, not so much for his birth, 
as that he was born in the same age with you ; for if 
you will undertake the charge of his education, I 
assure myself that he will become worthy of his father, 
and of the kingdom which he will inherit." 

Philip's son was Alexander the Great. Alexander 
was soon with Aristotle, and remained with him eight 
years, when he ascended the throne at twenty years 
of age. During these years Alexander fully appreci- 
ated his advantages and made remarkable attain- 
ments in all directions. He saw so much to admire in 
Aristotle's methods that he became, from that time, 
an enthusiastic patron of learning ; and his first act 
on the throne was to furnish Aristotle with material 
and all necessary appliances for the illustration of his 
methods in the school at Athens. To accomplish this 
without delay, Alexander sent several thousand 
learned men to all parts of the known world to collect 
material for the illustration of every science. But to 
make a model school at Athens was only the beginning 
of Alexander's influence upon education. Ambitious 
as a conquerer of nations, he was still more ambitious 
in making a better civilization for all men. 

It was Alexander's ambition to conquer all nations, 
and combine all nations into one empire whose insti- 
tutions should all be permeated by the learning and 



I 8 THE NEW METHOD 

wisdom of Greece. He was maturing a might}' scheme 
for collecting all knowledge, for the increase of knowl- 
edge, and its diffusion throughout the world. The 
first move toward carrying out this plan was to invade 
and overthrow the rich and populous Persian empire. 
Persia had an area half as large as Europe, and next 
to Greece, was the most learned and cultured part of 
the world. It included all that remained of the older 
civilizations of Babylon, Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, 
and Mesopotamia. The largest armies ever led to 
battle had been the Persian armies under Xerxes and 
Darius for the invasion of Greece. 

In the spring of 334 B.C., Alexander, with an army 
of only 40,000 men, crossed the Hellespont, and en- 
tered the Persian empire. Slowly he moved toward 
Egypt, conquered every city on the way, and defeated 
the army of Darius numbering 700,000 men. While 
in Egypt he founded the city of Alexandria, which 
he designed for the educational metropolis of the 
world. Soon after this Alexander renewed his march 
toward other great cities of Persia. After crossing 
the Euphrates he again defeated the army of Darius, 
numbering a million men. The gates of many opulent 
cities, with all their treasures, were now open to the 
Greeks. Thence, the victorious army marched easter- 
ly to the Ganges river, conquered all that remained 
of Persia, invaded India, defeated King Porus, and 
took possession of thirty cities of India. 



OF EDUCATION 19 

Of all military campaigns, this was the most re- 
markable, both in its purposes and its results. To 
thousands of learned Greeks the march through Persia 
was much more than a military campaign. It was a 
thorough scientific study of the country through which 
they marched. At times it was like a grand excursion 
for sightseeing, recreation, and scientific observation, 
over a large, rich and populous country, abounding 
in the wonderful in nature and art. 

As soon as Alexander had conquered Egypt and the 
better half of Asia, he prepared to continue his march 
to the shores of the Pacific and take possession of all 
Asia in a single campaign. But his army had left 
their homes eight years before, and refused to march 
any farther except toward their native land. 

Alexander yielded to the wishes of his faithful 
warriors and soon returned to Babylon, which he in- 
tended to make the capital of the prospective new 
empire. In the midst of great plans for the recon- 
struction of his vast dominions, the completion of his 
educational plans, and the future conquest of the rest 
of the world, capie Alexander's death, in the thirty- 
third year of his age. 

The result of Alexander's conquests in Asia and 
Africa we are to consider only in its educational in- 
fluence. But the grandest movement in education 
that the world has ever seen had already been formu- 
lated. Alexander had made Ptolemy the governor of 



20 THE NEW METHOD 

Egypt, to have control of the educational interests of 
the world. On the death of Alexander, Ptolemy be- 
came king of Egypt. For carrying out the plan of 
Alexander, Ptolemy had in his treasury $400,000,000 
in gold and silver. 

The magnificence of the buildings reared for the 
Alexandi-ian school I will not attempt to describe. 
They were built by the greatest architects of Greece, 
and adorned by the greatest sculptors the world has 
ever known. Surrounding these buildings were botan- 
ical gardens, filled with the living representatives of 
the flora of all nations ; zoological gardens represent- 
ing the living forms of the land and the sea ; great 
temples filled with paintings, sculpture, and every art 
of the known world. Still more important than these 
was the library of 700,000 volumes, by far the largest 
library of antiquity. In short everything was done 
that could help to make a school for the collection of 
all knowledge, for the increase of knowledge by 
scientific investigation, and the diffusion of knowl- 
edge throughout the world. Under the reign of the 
Ptolemies the Alexandrian school ^continued about 
three hundred years, until Egypt became a Roman 
province. During this time it had reached its greatest 
excellence. The students were from all parts of the 
world, and the average number for three centuries 
had been twelve thousand. 

Under Roman dominion the school was not kept 



Ol'^ EDUCATION 21 

up to the high statidaid of its illustrious founders, 
or the luxury and indolence of the l\a.si had taken 
the place of the love of learning. Rut the methods 
of that school had been carried by its patrons to 
various parts of the world, and had taken root in 
many a school in Arabia and Persia and in Europe. 
But the long dark ages, that followed the downfall of 
the Roman empire, blotted out of all Europe nearly 
every trace of the intellectual light that had originated 
in the Greek civilization. But in Asia, where Alex- 
ander a thousand years before had collected the gold 
to establish the great school, the science of the Greeks 
had been kept alive, and under its influence the Arab- 
ians and Syrians became a progressive people. Before 
the ninth century they had excelled in learning all 
the nations of the world at that time, and they held 
that position for many centuries. 

Although Alexandria was partly destroyed, and 
what Caesar had left of the great library was burned, 
the ultimate effect of the Arabian wars of conquest 
in the seventh century was to stimulate intellectual 
activity, and greatly accelerate the progress of sound 
learning. For the conquering armies, after they had 
well-nigh destroyed the results of Greek learning and 
culture, as they saw the ruined palaces, adorned with 
every art, as they thought of the half million rare 
books which they had destroyed, they became more 
thoughtful, and repented of their wanton destruction 



22 THE NEW METHOD 

of the very source of all the splendor of the ruins 
that surrounded them. They soon began to cultivate 
the civilization of the conquered people, and restore 
to the world what they had destroyed. Books were 
collected at great expense from all sources, and trans- 
lated into Arabic. Schools and colleges sprang up, 
and learning revived in every part of the great 
empire. 

In the early part of the eighth century a Spanish 
noble requested Musa, the governor of Egypt, to send 
a military force to Spain to correct the tyranny of 
King Roderic, the usurper. Seven thousand men led 
by the brave general Tarik soon landed at Gibraltar, 
and in two years had taken nearly all Spain. Tarik 
established in Spain the best known civilization, 
giving all Europe the means of rising above the thral- 
dom of ignorance and barbarism, and eventually 
bringing the dark ages to a close. From time to time 
thousands of the cultured families of western Asia 
and northern Africa were attracted to Spain bj^ the 
genial climate, beautiful scenery, and fertile soil. 
Schools, colleges and universities were founded in the 
Alexandrian methods. A high civilization sprang up 
and flourished for nearly eight centuries. It became 
the best civilization in the world at that time. It 
held that position until Europe had founded, on the 
Arabian models, learned societies and academies in 
every capital and large city. 



OF EDUCATION 23 

The most enlightened artisans of Asia were induced 
to settle in Spain and introduce the arts of civilized 
life. The improved productive arts soon brought the 
comforts, conveniences and necessities of life within 
the reach of all. The decorative arts furnished orna- 
ments and elegance in dress and furniture. Spain 
became the garden and market place of Europe. 
The neat, polite and well-dressed people made a strik- 
ing contrast with merchants from France, Germany 
and England, dressed in sheepskin or the untanned 
hides of other animals. 

The wealth, learning, elegance and refinement of 
Spain, nearly equaled that of the best parts of Europe 
at the present time. Cordova, the capital of Anda- 
lusia in the tenth century, had a population of a mil- 
lion. They had a library of 600,000 volumes. Seville, 
Toledo, Grenada and sixty other cities and towns each 
had a large library, some of them rivaling that of 
Cordova. 

Here, after a precarious existence for centuries, was 
the beginning in Europe of that modernized Greek 
civilization which was to spread over the entire con- 
tinent. One man in ten thousand saw the promise of 
better days for Europe from this source, and sent his 
sons to the Cordovan schools. Every student on re- 
turning home became the nucleus of a secret society 
for the promotion of learning. Men of worthy motives 
and independent judgment began to increase in all 



24 THE NEW METHOD 

the populous centres. But there was no safety for 
such men till the seventeenth century. Still the work 
went on with increasing numbers and greater bold- 
ness. Learned societies were established on a larger 
scale, and more openly. The intellectual element had 
become uncontrollable. 

The Academia Secrciortim Natu?-a' was founded at 
Naples in 1560; the Lyncean Academy in Rome, 
1603; the Royal Society, London. 1645; the Acradcmia 
del Cime7ito, Florence, 1657 ; Royal Academy of Sci- 
ences, Paris, 1666. These and many other learned 
societies were all organized on the Greek models. 
Only the Greek methods have ever produced such 
men as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Napier, 
and Lavoisier. These and other illustrious names 
were the peers of. Archimedes, Ptolemy, Apollonius, 
Euclid, Aristotle, and Hero. 

Historians have never given due credit to the 
Arabians for what they did in the darkest part of the 
dark ages to save the results of Greek civilization 
from oblivion. National vanity and a difference in 
race and religion explain their treatment in Christian 
Europe. But their religion led them to be temperate 
in all things, tolerant, kind and true to all men. It 
led them to cultivate neatness, elegance, courage, 
chivalry, justice, and personal honor. But all Europe 
combined to destroy them. Each century diminished 
the Arabian territory, and what could not be done by 



OF EDUCATION 25 

war, was done at last by the fires of the inquisition 
— the most cruel device to stifle liberty ever organized 
by barbarians, or by half civilized fanatics. Thus 
])erished millions of Arabs, Moors and Jews, after 
having been a model for European progress from the 
earliest efforts of Europe to rise out of the darkness 
of the middle ages. 

Four hundred years ago there was not a newspaper 
nor a common school in all Europe. In the best parts 
of Europe only one person in a thousand could read 
and write. In other parts, including England and all 
northern Europe, not one in ten thousand could either 
read or write. Very few people cared to know these 
useful arts which all civilized nations now consider so 
essential. The first permanent newspaper in Europe 
was published in Italy soon after the middle of the 
sixteenth century. Seventy years later the " Gazette 
de France " was published in Paris. The newspaper 
followed close upon the common school. Our English 
ancestors had neither of them till the middle of the 
seventeenth century. The art of printing, the common 
school, and the newspaper, in a general way mark the 
end of the dark ages which ruled over Europe more 
than a thousand years. 

We can hardly realize the condition of our ancestors 
three hundred years ago. Their houses were built 
of sticks and reeds covered over with mud. There 
was no chimney to carry out the smoke, and no glass 



26 THE NEW METHOD 

to admit the light. Their tables and chairs were logs 
of wood set on end. Their beds were bags of straw 
seldom renewed, and a log for a pillow. Their clothing 
was made of leather or the untanned hides of animals, 
with no underclothing. Their food was chiefly beans, 
peas, fern roots and the bark of trees. Their houses 
and door-yards were filthy beyond expression. Only 
one child in four lived to be twenty. There were no 
sanitary conditions anywhere. The population was 
constantly thinned by pestilence, want, and the most 
appalling barbarities. The church was an organ for 
extorting money, and the clergy were the most crimi- 
nal class of people. 

The ignorance, superstition and anarchy that ruled 
in Europe through the middle ages were not quite 
but almost universal. A few thousand families, scat- 
tered here and there over Europe, lived from genera- 
tion to generation in a civilized way as far as it was 
possible in the midst of conditions worse than bar- 
barian. They remembered the achievements of their 
ancestors in the ancient empires that had passed 
away, and through their own efforts they had long 
hoped to see the dawn of a new civilization for the 
future of Europe. Five centuries of anarchy, war and 
confusion had been endured, with no change ex- 
cept increasing violence and barbarism. 

In the tenth century a ray of intellectual light ap- 
peared in the south-west of Europe but it served at 



OF EDUCATION 27 

first only to make the surrounding darkness more 
apparent. 

A foreign race had settled in Spain in the eighth 
century, and had established great universities for the 
promotion of science and civilization. They had made 
Gibraltar the stronghold, not only of military power, 
but of intellectual and moral force. Here they built 
a line of colleges and universities, extending from 
Gibraltar a hundred miles toward the Pyrenees, and 
opened their doors to the young men of all nations. 
Practically, the Alexandrian school of the Ptolemies 
had been reconstructed by the learned men of Arabia, 
Syria, Asia Minor, and Egypt, and carried into Spain. 
They had restored the great Alexandrian library so 
far as possible, and transferred it to Cordova, the 
Spanish capital. 

The glimmering of light, radiating in the tenth 
century from the Arabian schools in Spain where 
the best families in Europe were educating their sons, 
hardly seemed like the dawn of a new civilization for 
all Europe, but such it is proving to be, not only for 
Europe but for America, and eventually the whole 
world ; for some parts of Asia and South America are 
already under way in the new education. From the 
tenth century to the fifteenth, the schools of Spain 
attracted young men from all parts of Europe. On 
completing their studies they carried to their homes 
the spirit of the Spanish Arabian schools, which was 



28 THE NEW METHOD 

at that time the spirit of the " new education". In 
the course of time these men began to organize for 
educational purposes, France, Italy, and Germany 
taking the lead. Academies of art and science sprang 
up, only to be closed by the ecclesiastical power. Men 
who wished to pursue science must do it in solitude 
and silence, if they would escape the cruelties of that 
ignorant and intolerant age. But the time came when 
the light of science could no longer be smothered, 
for it had been kindled in too many places, and the 
darkness of the middle ages must disappear. From 
Spain an influence had gone forth over Europe that 
the fires of the inquisition could not destroy. The 
astronomy of Pythagoras had been revived in Arabia 
and was silently taking deep root in Europe. In the 
interest of commerce, sailors and merchants were se- 
cretly consulting astronomers as to the size and shape 
of the earth, and a better passage to India. Intel- 
lectual activity was increasing in every part of Europe. 
The spirit of individualism and adventure had been 
awakened by the three great voyages. 

People were eager to hear the news of the day, the 
wonders of science, the stories of the new world, 
of the mountains of gold in Peru, and of silver in 
Mexico. 

The two impulses, the intellectual and the moral 
combined, which finally brought the dark ages to an 
end, did not spring up at once. Both were germinat- 



OF EDUCATION 29 

ing in the ninth century. Both were annually rein- 
forced and enlivened by the exodus of a thousand 
young men from the Arabian schools. Both impulses 
were taking deeper and deeper root in the nations of 
Europe six hundred years before they culminated in 
establishing the principles of modern European life. 
Thus the spirit of improvement which had its be- 
ginning in the schools of Spain in the darkest part of 
the dark ages was the cause of the common school 
and not the consequence of it, as many have supposed. 

The common school had its beginning in southern 
Europe in the sixteenth century, and in the northerly 
parts a hundred years later. What learning there was 
at that time, except that derived from the Arabian 
schools, was confined to bishops, monks and other 
ecclesiastics. Men who knew the methods of true 
education could have no voice or influence in organ- 
izing the school, or formulating its methods. The 
schools at first were reading schools and nothing 
more. The priest of the parish was the teacher 
because nobody else could read. But when a genera- 
tion of readers had grown up, any one who could 
do the necessary flogging could teach school. 

The expectations of the reading schools have never 
been realized. At the end of the sixteenth century 
there was disappointment everywhere. In the next 
century arithmetic and writing were introduced, but 
at the close of the century the disappointment was no 



30 THE NEW METHOD 

less than it had been a hundred years earlier. Before 
the middle of the eighteenth century many people be- 
came out-spoken in their criticisms of the schools. 
They claimed that the method must be radically 
wrong, for in two centuries the public school had 
done but little toward raising the people out of their 
ignorance and degradation. 

The first of the noted writers on this subject was 
Rousseau in France. In 1749 he wrote that the 
children learn nothing but words and no real knowl- 
edge, that books rob a boy of his mother wit and he 
becomes a machine and a dunce. He said that what 
real knowledge a child receives comes through the 
senses, which are the basis of the intellectual, and that 
books are useless until the child is ten years old. 

The next distinguished advocate of better methods 
in education was Henry Pestalozzi of Switzerland. 
He opened his first school at Neuhof in 1775. Pes- 
talozzi rejected as worse than useless the book learn- 
ing which prevailed in all public schools at that time. 
He said that a man who has only book learning is 
less susceptible to truth than a savage. 

For nearly a hundred years Germany has been the 
educational centre of the world. She is exerting a 
great and increasing influence in all the progressive 
and most highly civilized nations, by illustrating the 
true or at least the best known methods of educating 
a child. It becomes us, then, to inquire how Germany 



OF EDUCATION 3I 

has gained the intellectual lead of the world, and how 
we may put German wisdom into our own schools. 

During the first few years of the last century 
Europe was shaken to its centre by the repeated vic- 
tories of the French and allied armies under the lead 
of Napoleon Bonaparte. Upon the defeat of the 
Germans in the battle of Jena, in 1806, and the en- 
trance of Napoleon into Berlin a few days later, the 
despair of Germany was complete. The last days of 
that year found all Germany without one ray of hope 
for the future of their country. But in the early part 
of 1807 it began to be manifest that national vitality 
was still there ; and it soon began to show itself in 
a spirited manner in the management of such social 
affairs as Napoleon still allowed them to control. It 
was during this period of subjugation and despair 
that a few of the ablest and best patriots were already 
devising the means of national reconstruction. They 
had lost all hope of immediately improving their con- 
dition. Their hope of ultimate success was in armies 
stronger physically, stronger intellectually and nior- 
rally : men who could utilize all their strength 
through an educated will. In allowing Germany to 
control her own educational interests Napoleon 
struck a chord that has never ceased to vibrate. 

In a public lecture at Berlin in 1807, the noted 
philosopher P'^ichte used these words: " That we are 
no longer able to offer an active resistance is obvious 



32 THE NEW METHOD 

to every one. How then can we regain and defend 
our national existence ? In no other way than by 
raising up a worthy posterity. There remains for us 
no sphere in which we can act as an independent state, 
except that of education. And I have only this hope 
to live for, that I shall convince some Germans that 
it is education alone which can save us from all the 
evils by which we are oppressed." At this lecture 
were high officers of state, kings, queens, princes, min- 
isters of education, and noted teachers to represent the 
new education, then in its infancy in the public schools 
of modern Europe. The applause of the great audience 
became enthusiastic as the philosopher promised not 
only deliverance to Germany through national educa- 
tion, but declared that it would result, in the end, in the 
emancipation and reformation of the entire human race. 
To the question whether there is any known method 
of human development sufficient for such a result, 
the lecturer said there is; "a method which had 
been invented by Henry Pestalozzi, which is now 
successfully carried out under his direction, at Yver- 
don, in Switzerland." As this method of eventual 
deliverance through education was clearly set forth 
and fortified by argument, it took strong hold of the 
public mind. It seems that several other distin- 
guished men had already been thinking of the new 
education as the surest foundation of national 
strength, and the true palladium of liberty. 



OF EDUCATION 33 

Soon after this meeting in Berlin, Nicbolovius, the 
Prussian minister of education, wrote to Pestalozzi 
as follows : "At last ray venerable, unforgotten 
friend, I have the pleasure of seeing some rays of thy 
light penetrate into the schools of my fatherland. 
What I have dreamed at thy side, what we have dis- 
cussed in letters, will soon become realized as a work 
of absolute necessity. With us the march of events 
has ruined everything, yet courageous men are already 
bent upon reconstruction. Oh help us to foster the 
work which thou hast founded. May thy life be spared 
in order to complete thy work as far as possible." 

Carl Ritter, soon after a visit to Pestalozzi 's school, 
wrote to him thus : "I cannot tear myself away from 
the mountain scenery of Helvetia without devoting 
to thee, O Father Pestalozzi a silent tear. May it 
tell how deeply I feel what thou art to humanity. 
How could I ever forget the time I have spent amidst 
thy new creations. Even had I gained nothing by it 
but a renewed faith in humanity, I would consider 
myself amply repaid. 

"My ardent desire to see the champion and martyr 
for truth and love, and to be refreshed at the living 
.source of his life and example, has been granted ; and 
I return with enlarged feeling into this cold vortex 
of life. I thank thee venerable father, for thy affec- 
tion. It has taught me a warmer and purer love : It 
has strengthened my arm for the struggle with the 



34 THE NEW METHOD 

world, which every one, to whom life is more than 
death must undergo. But blind humanity passes by 
the law of nature, until a Newton shows its applica- 
tion in mathematical science, a Lavoisier through the 
maze of experimental philosophy, and a Pestalozzi 
in the wider field of human development." 

In 1808 the Prussian government sent twelve well 
educated and carefully selected young men to Yver- 
don, to learn the details of Pestalozzi's principles and 
methods. Nicholovius said to them : " The object of 
sending you to Pestalozzi is not merely that you may 
study the external or formal part of his system, but 
that you may warm yourselves at the sacred fire 
which is glowing in the bosom of that man, who is 
full of power and love ; that you may walk with a 
similar spirit in the path of truth, and in the observa- 
tion of nature ; that you may become simple as children 
in order to obtain the key with which to open the 
sacred temple of childhood ; that you may learn to 
simplify the elementary part of each science by leading 
the child directly into the realities of the world through 
the use of his own faculties, and thus strengthen his 
mind, by vigorous nourishment, for the application 
and popular use of knowledge." These students 
made rapid progress at Yverdon, and on their return 
they established normal schools which in a few years 
furnished a large number of earnest and competent 
teachers. By these and other means the schools of 



OF EDUCATION 35 

Germany were organized on a new basis, and a hope- 
ful and vigorous life was felt throughout the land. 

In 1813 the allied armies defeated Napoleon in the 
battle of Leipsic, and Germany was again free. 
Almost as soon as a generation had grown up in the 
new education, Germany had occasion for using all 
the power her armies had gained through its means, 
to show the world whether there was any reality 
in her dreams of power to preserve her liberties 
through an improved method of education. 

In 1870 France declared war against Germany. 
Germany did not hesitate for one hour. Full of life 
and energy, Germany once more grappled with the 
great power that had invaded her homes sixty years 
before. The best-educated army the world has ever 
seen immediately moved toward the proud capital of 
France. Two hundred miles from Paris the two 
great armies met. For the French it was utter defeat 
in every battle. In a short campaign of seven weeks, 
the Germans had taken 260,000 prisoners of war, and 
turned the red battlefields into great cemeteries for 
the dead soldiers of France. Paris itself was soon 
invested, and France, which had been the terror of 
all Europe for a century, was completely broken. 

It was to be expected that a method of education 
originating among German-speaking people, would 
spread much more rapidly where their language is 
used than in countries speaking different languages. 



36 THE NEW METHOD 

Not until 1830 did the government of France make 
any attempt to introduce the new education, and her 
public schools had fallen far behind those of Ger- 
many. Then a vigorous movement was made in 
France to raise public instruction to a better standard 
by the appointment of Victor Cousin as minister of 
education. He began his work by first making himself 
acquainted with the best school systems of Europe. 

In his report he was emphatic in the statement that 
the schools of Germany are far superior to all others 
in Europe. He recommended the immediate recon- 
struction of the schools of France on the German 
models. He seemed almost to feel obliged to apologize 
for studying and recommending the school system 
of a rival nation. He told France that she ought 
not to lose the experience of Germany — that 
national rivalries and antipathies would here be 
entirely out of place. He farther said: "I am as 
great an enemy as any one to artificial imitations, but 
let us not reject a thing because it has been thought 
good by others. We constantly imitate England in 
many ways, and to our great advantage. And why 
should we blush to borrow something from kind, 
honest, pious, learned Germany, in what regards 
inward life, and the nurture of the soul." 

But the system advocated by Cousin was only par- 
tially carried out, and primary education in France 
has never attained to the standard of Germany. 



PART II 

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES 



GRADE I. 

The First Day in Sciiooi., and What Was 
Done by Children Six Years Old. 

Song. 

Morning's golden light is breaking; 

Tints of beauty paint the skies; 
Happy song-birds now are waking, 

Let their songs to heaven arise. 

This is a fine morning to begin your first day in 
school. After thinking a moment yon may tell a few 
of tiie interesting things you saw on your way from 
home. 

Bessie — I saw a bird's-nest up very high in a tree. 

Helen — I saw a little boy playing in the sand. 

Ida — I saw a white rock on the wall. 

JoJni — I saw some red clover and .some white 
clover. 

Did any of you find out what makes it so light that 
we can see all these things so nicely ? May raise 
your hand if you can tell what makes it so light every 
day and so dark every night. 

Ida — The sun rises every morning and makes it 
light. 

Does the sun stay in one place after it rises ? 

May — As soon as the sun rises it goes up higher 



4 . THE NEW METHOD 

and moves along all day in the sky and gets to the 
place where it sets, and then it gets dark in a little 
while. 

May tell all you know about the sun. 

Nina — The sun is round. 

Olive — The sun is very bright. 

Ella — The sun rises in the east. 

John — The sun lights up the world. 

He?iry — The sun warms the ground and the air. 

Edith — When the sun sets it makes the clouds red 
and yellow. 

Ja7ie — The sun makes the sky and the clouds 
look bright and beautiful. 

The sentences above, given orally by the children, 
were taken for their first lesson in reading. 

In the afternoon their reading was selected, as 
given below : — 

" Seas roll to waft me, suns to light me rise, 
My footstool earth, my canopy the skies." 

— Pope. 

" The sun rides through the azure sky, 
And beams upon us from on high." 

— RoDiaine. 

" From blue to red, from red to gold, from gold to gray, 
So turns the sky, so fades the light, so ends the day." 

— Ermy. 

" The rising sun had newly chased the night, 
And purpled o'er the sky with blushing light." 

— Dry den. 



OF EDUCATION 5 

The present approved metliod of learning to read 
has resulted from the proper combination of all that 
is good in every method that has ever been used. 
No method has been entirely wrong, but the worst of 
all methods is that which was used almost universally 
in Europe and America until quite recently, and is 
still used in many places. It wastes the time and 
energies of the child on the least important of all the 
details of learning to read. Under that method, 
simply the name of each letter was first learned, and 
that gave no direct clew to the sound of the letters, 
or the pronunciation of words. 

The child must learn to pronounce words at sight by 
the same general method by w^hich he has learned 
the looks and name of hundreds of other things which 
he can name at sight without hesitation. The true 
order is to observe the whole thing before we investi- 
gate the different parts and the smaller details of the 
parts. 

In learning to read the sound of the letter is much 
more important than its name, but both should have 
careful attention from the beginning. 

Specimens of Work Done Last Part of 
First Year. 

The first move toward explaining the principles of 
the New Education will be the presentation of a few 



6 THE NEW METHOD 

samples of work in all the grades, exactly as written 
by the children while the object described was before 
them for their inspection. It is hoped that these 
records will, to some extent, show what modern ap- 
proved methods are. 

School work should begin by learning things near 
at hand, especially the things that concern people of 
all ages. Nothing is nearer to us than the air we 
breathe, the light, heat, and other influences of the 
sun, the earth we tread upon, and the vegetable 
world around us. These are the sources of life, 
health, and true culture. They are the foundation 
of our industries and our wealth. 

The Landscape. 

"A landscape is all the land and everything the 
land contains as far as we can see in all directions. 
When we are in a valley we can see but a little way, 
and if we wish to see a large landscape we must go 
to the top of a high hill or a mountain. 

Yesterday we all went to the top of a high hill to 
see the landscape that surrounds our school. On our 
way we saw fields of grass and corn, pastures full of 
sheep and lambs, lawns and gardens, woodland with 
many kinds of trees, squirrels, birds and butterflies. 
When we were at the top of the hill we saw the great 
landscape reaching to the horizon in all directions. 



OF EDUCATION 7 

The largest things in the landscape were th* moun- 
tains in the west and north, and the great hills in the 

east." Nina. 

The Sky. 

" The sky is the largest sight that we can ever see, 
and one of the most beautiful of all sights. It seems 
to be just as broad as the landscape, and it reaches 
down to the horizon all the way around. The sky 
looks like a great hollow dome, or canopy perfectly 
rounded in every part. It contains the blue air that 
keeps every plant and animal alive, and the beautiful 
clouds always changing their color and shape. The 
sun and moon are in the sky a part of the time, and 
the stars are always there, but we can see them 
only in the night because they are so far away." 

Dora. 
The Trilijum Plant. 

We all had a beautiful Trillium plant to study this 
morning, and we are going to describe it in writing. 
The Trillium grows about six inches high, and it is a 
very interesting little plant. The lower part of the 
stem is pink, and it shades off into light green in the 
upper part, and dark green at the top. 

" The plant has only three leaves and they grow in 
a whorl near the top. The leaves are large for a 
little plant like this. They are more than three inches 
long and half as wide. They have a great many 



8 THE NEW METHOD 

veinlets growing out of the veins, and they divide the 
leaf into little parts of many funny shapes. The 
leaves are ovate, and they have an entire margin and 
a sharp point at the apex. 

" The Trillium has but one flower, but it is large 
and beautiful. The flower has three sepals, three 
petals, and six stamens. The petals are mostly 
white, but each one has several pink lines running 
half way up from the calyx. The Trillium plant 
grows in all the New England states and in Canada." 

WiEI.. 

" We have just had a short lesson on a very com- 
mon little butterfly, called the Colias philodice. It 
is a very beautiful and interesting insect. lyike all 
other butterflies it has. four wings, six legs and two 
antennae. The wings expand about two inches. 
The general color of the wings is yellow, of the 
brightest shade.* All the wings have a black or very 
dark border all around them. On the forewings the 
border is much wider than on the hind wings. Near 
the middle of each front wing there is a small black 
spot, and a little place in the center of it is trans- 
lucent. On the hind wings there is an orange spot, 
and all around it there is a ring of dark yellow. 
Along the border of all the wings there are yellow 
spots in a row near the edge. These butterflies live 



OP EDUCATION 9 

only about thirty clays, but they seem to be very 
happy while the sun shines, and they go from flower 
to flower for the honey." RosiE. 

"The weather has been very changeable ever 
since sunrise. Early this mor-ning the sun was shin- 
ing, the air was clear and the sky was blue. There 
were no clouds except a few cumulus clouds near the 
zenith, and they were as bright and beautiful as pos- 
sible as they changed into many curious shapes. 
Just at school time it grew darker, but cleared up in 
a little while, and then grew darker once more. At 
recess time the whole eastern horizon was bright 
blue, with a few lovely stratus clouds from ten to 
twenty degrees high. The wind blows gently from 
the west now, at the rate of a mile an hour, I should 
say. We used some thistle-down in the garden to 
see which way and how fast the air was moving. 
Just before recess we had several nice and very inter- 
esting experiments to show us the properties of the 

air." Bessie. 

The Buttercup. 

" The early buttercup is an interesting plant. It 

grows only a few inches high. It blossoms very 

early in the spring, and the flower is bright yellow. 

The calyx has five parts, and the blossom has five 

petals. The petals are about half an inch long." 

John. 



lO THE NEW METHOD 

"The Clintonia is a very beautiful plant. It is 
generally found in damp woods. It grows nearly a 
foot high. At the top it bears four or five large 
nodding flowers. The Clintonia grows in the six 
New England States, and westerly to the Mississippi 
River," BessiE. 

"The Sanguinaria plant, or Blood Root, is very 
beautiful. It grows in very rich, damp soil, and 
blossoms quite early. The sap of the roots and of all 
other parts of the plant is red and bitter. The leaf 
has eight lobes, and there are rounded sinuses be- 
tween them. The flower is white. It has two sepals, 
eight petals, and about twenty-four stamens." 

Ida. 

"The Uvularia is a very interesting plant. It 
grows in damp shady places and is about eight inches 
high. Near the top it divides into two parts. One 
part has only leaves — the other part has leaves and 
one large flower. The flower has six light yellow 
petals nearly an inch long." SusiE. 

" The Potentilla argentea is a very small plant. It 
grows in dry, hard ground where mo.st other plants 
never grow. This little plant has very pretty yellow 
flowers from June till September. The flower has 
five sepals, five petals, and many stamens. Each 
leaf has five leaflets. The under side of the leaf is 



OF ISDUCATION II 

much lighter green than the upper side. There are 
a few small teeth on the margin of the leaflets near 
the apex." May. 

"The Aspidium spinulosum is a very beautiful 
fern. It grows in the woods. It will grow in past- 
ures where there are a few trees to shade it a part of 
the time. The frond has a graceful lanceolate form, 
and it is twice pinnate. In good soil this fern grows 
about fourteen inches high." Jane. 

The Weather. 
"This is a very pleasant day. The wind is very 
nearly west. The sun is shining brightly. There 
are a few stratus clouds near the western horizon, 
and some cumulus clouds near the zenith. Both 
these kinds of clouds are fair weather clouds. We 
can see the beautiful blue sky in many places 
through the clouds. Klla. 

The Weather. 
" At recess this morning the air was very still, and 
there were no clouds at all. At noon there were 
stratus clouds just above the horizon, cumulus clouds 
half way to the zenith, nimbus clouds down low in 
the east, and high above them over a large space 
there were cirrus clouds of many shapes, and there 
was a cold east wind." Oi^ivE. 



12 THE NEW METHOD 

" It is very warm today and the sun shines about 
half the time. The other half of the time the sun is 
behind a large cumulus cloud. 

" Yesterday it was very foggy all day and the sun- 
beam could not get through the fog. The sun is so 
far away I should not think the light could go so far 
even when the air is clear." Edith. 

" We had three very interesting experiments this 
morning to show that air swells or expands when it 
is warmed. When we think there is nothing in a 
dish or a bottle it is always full of air. The ap- 
paratus used was a round flask of thin and very clear 
glass, a bent glass tube in a cork, and a small glass 
tunnel in a cork. Water was poured into the tunnel, 
but it would not run through into the flask until a 
part of the air came out." Henry. 

" The sun rises very early now, and soon we shall 
have the longest day of the year. Soon after sunrise 
this morning the dew-drops were very thick on the 
grass and on all other plants. 

"Just as the sun went down last night some of the 
clouds in the west were brighter than gold. One 
cloud had four or five shades of red. The lightest 
shade was pink and the darkest was crimson." 

Nina. 



GRADE II. 

The Littorina Snail. 

" It lives in shallow water around every sea north 
of the equator. The shell is quite pretty. It is nearly 
an inch long and half as wide. The body whorl is 
yellow, and is covered with rows of little ridges. The 
apex is very sharp, and is of a dark yellow color. The 
aperture is round and one side of it is light green. 
The inside of the shell is white, and I can see some 
parallel, raised lines there. The snail is a very slow 
one, for it can go only four inches a minute. It is an 
herbivorous snail, for it eats nothing but sea- weeds." 

Ima. 

The Cypraea Onyx, 

"The general color of this shell is brown. The body 
whorl is light brown, with a spot of white on the back 
near the middle. On the body whorl near the aper- 
ture there is a stripe of dark red. One part of the 
stripe is light brown. The aperture is quite wide. 
The outer lip is dark brown, and there are seventeen 
teeth on it. The teeth are red and the spaces be- 
tween them are dark brown. 

"This shell is found in the shallow water of the 



14 THE NEW METHOD 

Japan Sea, Yellow Sea, Blue Sea and China Sea ; 
also on the shores of all the Japan Islands." 

Edie. 

"The Strombus gigas is a very big shell. My 
shell weighs three pounds and a quarter, and it is 
nine inches long and seven inches broad. It has ten 
whorls and the body whorl is very large. Each 
whorl has seven or eight spikes, or spines. Each 
spine on the body whorl is an inch high, and on the 
next whorl half as much as that, and the next the 
half of that, and it goes on that way till they get very 
small. There are seventy-nine or eight}^ spines on 
my shell. The aperture is pink, and near the edge 
of the outer lip it is salmon color, and it is scalloped 
all the way. Where the spines show inside it is hol- 
lowed out, and the hollows are very dark pink. This 
is the prettiest shell that I have ever studied — it is 
so large and handsome. These shells were found on 
the shores of Hayti. They are also found on the 
shores of Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, all the Bahama 
and Caribbee islands and all other islands in the 
Caribbean Sea." Ida. 

"When I got up this morning it was very cold 
indeed, and the window was covered with frost. 
Although the sun shines very brightly, it does not 
make the air warm. There is a very strong west 



OF EDUCATION 1 5 

wind, but it does not very often blow any clouds 
across the sun. Last night the nimbus clouds began 
to gather in the south and east and it soon began to 
snow very fast. The flakes were large and very per- 
fect in shape. They were all the same beautiful 
shape, and had six sides more symmetrical than any 
one could possibly draw them. The snow in the 
public garden is a foot deep, and the wind drives it 
about every way ; and the drifts are the highest I 
ever saw. 

' ' In our science lesson after recess we had an 
experiment on a mineral called Iceland Spar. It was 
put in water and the water had no effect upon it, but 
when muriatic acid, which looks just like water, was 
poured in, it instantly drew away the atoms of the 
rock, one from another. I enjoy these lessons and 
experiments very much indeed." Mina. 

" The Tapes literata belongs to the family of Ven- 
eridae. It is two inches long and one inch broad. 
Its color is light brown with dark brown spots. The 
lines of growth are slightly raised, and parallel to the 
edge of the shell. The hinge is very small and is not 
in the middle. This shell is found on the shores of 
India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ceylon, Mal- 
dive and L,accadive Islands. The market place is at 
Colombo, the capital of Ceylon." Ann. 



I 6 THE NEW METHOD 

' ' Our lesson in shells today was upon the Natica 
mamilla, a shell from the family of Naticadae, a fam- 
ily which none of us ever has studied before. This 
shell is a remarkably pretty one, for it is pure white. 
The body whorl is very large in comparison with the 
spire. The shell is less than an inch long, and it is. 
shaped like a semi-circle. It is quite thin at the 
edge, but it becomes quite thick at the middle of the 
body whorl. This shell may be found on the shores 
of all the Islands north of South America, in the 
Caribbean Sea." 

The Cypreae Reticulata. 

"This is a very pretty shell. It is found on 
the coast of the Celebes Island, and all other East 
India islands. The shell is about an inch and a 
quarter in diameter and nearly four inches in circum- 
ference. On the back of the shell there is a very 
light green stripe running the whole length. In the 
aperture there are short, brown ridges. The shell is 
mostly covered with, white spots and dark brown 
stripes." James. 

"The Trochus niloticus belongs to the family of 
Turbinidae. The spire is a perfect cone about three 
inches long and two and a half inches broad at the 
base. It has five whorls. It is a very beautiful 



OF EDUCATION I7 

shell, for the outside is covered with a pearly enamel, 
and when it is held in the light it is iridescent in 
many places. 

" This shell is found on the shores of the China 
Sea, the Yellow Sea, and around the Philippine 
Islands and the Formosa Islands." Lucy. 

Shells of Torrid Zone. 
"The Cassis testiculus resembles in many respects 
the Cassis vibex. It is somewhat smaller, being only 
about two inches long, and about an inch and a quar- 
ter in thickness. It is of a pink-white color, deeper 
in some places than others. There are grooved lines 
running around the shell parallel to the suture, and 
rows of ribs crossing them at right angles. The 
outer lip turns back like that of the Cassis vibex, and 
has brown stripes crossing it at right angles to the 
edge. The aperture is longer and narrower than 
that of the Cassis vibex, and there are larger teeth 
on the inside of the outer lip. The inside of the 
shell is white. The inner lip is white, and has teeth, 
which are smaller than those on the outer lip. At 
the base of the aperture there is a deep canal. The 
spire is of a lighter color than the body whorl. The 
apex is sharp, and is white. The suture is not deep. 
This shell is found on the shores of Ceylon, the L,ac- 
adive and Maldive Islands, Sumatra, Borneo, and 
New Guinea." BESSIE. 



i 8 thk new method 

The Weather. 

" This is a warm sunny day. This morning there 
were large nimbus clouds all along the southwestern 
horizon, and I felt sure it would rain ; but after a few 
hours the whole sky was quite clear, and the color of 
the sky was a very pretty shade of blue. 

"Yesterday morning I could see no clouds but 
some long stratus clouds in the west, and a few 
cumulus clouds up very high. As both of these are 
fair weather clouds, I was sure it would be fair all 
day ; but a little before the middle of the afternoon 
it rained hard, and there was a strong wind. 

' ' One of our problems today was to find the 
weight of calcium, carbon, and oxygen in a pound of 
calcite." John. 

The Weather. 

" It is not a very fine day, and the sky looks as if 
we should have rain. This morning it was snowing 
when I came to school. The flakes were small and 
were driven about and broken by the wind. The 
nimbus clouds were heavy and dark, but I could not 
see them very well because the sky was dark, too. 

" I saw a few snow crystals that were not broken. 
They had six sides and six points. Every part was 
made very beautiful by other little crystals all over 
the larger parts. Water is a mineral. I^ike all other 



OF EDUCATION 19 

minerals it has its own forms. The dew and rain 
drops are globes, because all the atoms are drawn 
toward the centre. . . . 

" This is a pleasant day, though the wind is from 
the north and it is quite cold. There are a few stratus 
clouds in the west, and several large cumulus clouds 
high up in the sky. The blue sky is almost hidden 
except along the horizon between the long stratus 
clouds. The ground is covered with snow and ice. 
The temperature this morning was eight above zero. 

" We had very interesting experiments this morn- 
ing to show how much the air expands when it is 
warmed. A flask that holds one cubic inch was 
warmed, and we saw the bubbles of air as it was 
forced through a long glass tube into another flask." 

John. 

" This morning it was very cloudy and misty and 
dull, and I thought it would rain, but when I came 
to school it was so cold that I thought it would snow, 
and a little before recess it began to snow lightly but 
now it is snowing hard and fast. 

" After recess we had a very nice experiment which 
surprised us all. A very little of a bright red powder 
was put into a small test tube, and the tube was 
heated two or three minutes. The powder had been 
separated into oxygen, which filled the tube, and 



20 THE NEW METHOD 

mercury which we could see inside of the tube in 
little globes at the top of the tube." SusiE. 

" The wind is blowing quite hard today, and it is 
very cold. The sky is all covered with thick, dark 
and gray nimbus clouds, and although it was very 
pleasant this morning and the sun was shining very 
brightly, now it is dark and looks as if it would rain 
very soon, 

"We had experiments after recess to show that 
shells are composed of oxygen, calcium and carbon, 
the same as all marble and limestone. Forty-eight 
per cent, of a shell is oxygen, 40 per cent, is calcium, 
and 12 per cent, is carbon. 

" In our arithmetic lesson we found the weight of 

each element in several shells which were weighed 

before us for our problems in arithmetic." 

Cora. 

" This is a warm and sunny day. The sky is blue, 
and half covered with large white cumulus clouds. 
We have had a lesson upon a very beautiful mineral 
called calcite. It looks like ice, but not so clear, but 
it is translucent. The sides of a crystal are either 
square or oblong. The sides have two obtuse angles, 
and two acute angles. A crystal of calcite is a rhom- 
bohedron, for a cube has all right angles. 

"Calcium is a rare metal. It is yellow, and it 



OP EDUCATION 21 

costs ten times as much as gold. Carbon is a black 
element generally, but a diamond is crystalized car- 
bon, and it is the hardest of all minerals." David. 

" At recess the wind was easterly and the sky 
was mostly covered with dark nimbus clouds. The 
wind blows at the rate of about seven miles an hour. 
I think it will snow before night. 

" This morning we had several experiments on the 
most abundant of all the elements. Its name is oxy- 
gen. A coarse white powder like salt was put into 
a flask and heated in the flame of alcohol. The 
ox3'gen was separated from the powder and forced 
through a tube into some glass jars. Then a piece 
of iron wire was put into the jar and it burned, mak- 
ing a very bright flame, and sparks went out every 
way." JoiE. 

"It is very pleasant today, and is much warmer 
than it has been for some time except yesterday, 
when the ice was melting and dropping from the 
houses. Today, though the sun is shining, the ice 
is hard and smooth. Yesterday the sky was covered 
with very interesting cumulus and stratus clouds. 
They all had a reddish tinge, but were ornamented 
with many oVher colors and shades, and a great 
variety of shapes which were changing all the time. 



22 THE NKW METHOD 

We are never tired of studying the sky, because it is 
always beautiful and always changing. The sky 
now is of a very pretty blue with soft white clouds in 
some parts of it. They do not seem very far up in 
the sky." Sarah. 

The BI.ACK Cherry Tree. 

"There are forty kinds of cherry trees in the 
world, and ten of them grow in the United States. 
The wild black cherry is one of our best timber trees. 
The wood is light and pretty. It has a great deal of 
silver grain, and the rays are long, fine, and close to- 
gether. The color of the sap-wood is white. The 
heart- wood is light red, with darker stripes running 
through it. The wood is used for bureaus, tables, 
school desks, window sashes, posts for stair rails, and 
many other things. The bark is gray outside, but 
the inner bark is light yellow next to the wood, and 
darker near the outer bark. The leaf is ovate and 
comes to a point at the apex. It is finely net-veined, 
and the margin is very finely serrate. 

" This tree grows in all parts of North America be- 
tween the Gulf of Mexico and Slave Lake, Hudson 
Bay and Hudson Strait. But it grows best half way 
between Hudson Bay and Gulf of Mexico. There, 
all through the basins of the Missouri, Mississippi, 
and Ohio rivers, it grows a hundred feet high and 
five feet in diameter." George. 



OF EDUCATION 23 

" For study in science today we have Pyrite, which 
means fire-stone. One of our specimens is massive, 
and the other is in small crystals. Each crystal is a 
perfect cube. A cube has six equal sides, eight cor- 
ners and twelve edges. Pyrite is harder and heavier 
than any other mineral that we have studied. When 
broken it has a rough surface and a bright yellow 
color. When I turn it in the light it glitters like 
gold, but there is no gold in it at all, for it is 47 per 
cent, iron, and 53 per cent, sulphur. One of our 
problems to-day was to find the amount of iron and 
sulphur in a pound of pyrite. W^e all found it to be 
3290 grains of iron and 3710 grains of sulphur. For 
the proof we add these, and it makes a pound or 7000 
grains. 

" Our pyrite came from Ceylon. It is also found 
on the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, Corsica, 
Candia, Ceram, Gilolo, Borneo, Java, Sumatra and 
New Guinea." Anna. 

Pi. A NTS. 

"The Iris versicolor, or common blue flag, is a 
very beautiful plant. 

" It grows from two feet to three feet high, but it is 
never found growing on dry land. It grows best in 
very damp ground where the soil is rich and dark 
colored. 



24 THK NEW METHOD 

" It is an endogen plant ; that means that it keeps 
growing up out of the middle like corn and wheat 
and all kinds of grass. 

" The stalk is always crooked, and it is not quite 
round, but it is oval shape. Some of the leaves are 
nearly a foot long, and they are parallel veined. 

" The flower is very large, and is purple in color. 
The flower has three sepals, three petals, three 
stamens, and three pistils." Edith. 

Buttercups. 

" The Ranunculus bulbosus is a very beautiful little 
plant. It grows about ten inches high, and is gen- 
erally found on dry, rocky hills. 

" The root looks like a turnip, and there are fine 
fibres growing out of it. 

" There are many fine white hairs growing on the 
stalk. The flower is bright yellow. It has five 
sepals, five petals and nearly forty stamens. There 
are a great many pistils and they are green. The 
stamens are 5^ellow. The petals are half an inch long, 
and there are parallel lines running lengthwise on 
both sides. This plant is one kind of buttercup, or 
crowfoot. Nina. 

The Hii,ls and Valleys 
" Today the air is soft and warm, and there are no 
clouds in the sky. Yesterday we w^ent into the woods 



OF EDUCATION 25 

on a high hill. The hill is covered with large trees 
of many kinds. We found sugar maple, beech, oak, 
poplar, white ash, and many other trees and shrubs. 
I think the white ash trees are the prettiest of all, 
they are so tall and straight. The leaves have come 
out on the sugar maple trees, and the buds are open- 
ing on some other trees. 

" The wild red cherry tree grows only about twenty 
feet high and its trunk is from three to six inches in 
diameter. It is very common in all the river basins 
in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It blos- 
soms in May and is then a very showy tree. In the 
last part of summer it is made beautiful again by its 
bright red fruit. The leaves of the red cherry are 
about three inches long and about half as wide. 
They have a serrate margin and a sharp apex, and 
both sides are bright green." Eura, 

The Aspidium Novaboracense. 
"The Aspidium Novaboracense, or New York 
shield fern, as it is sometimes called, is found chiefly 
in New York state, but it is found as far south as the 
James River, west to Ohio and Lake Huron, and 
north to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is found grow- 
ing in both sun and shade, though it prefers a damp, 
shady spot. It grows generally about one foot and a 



26 THE NEW METHOD 

half liigli and nearly three inches wide in the broad- 
est part — the middle. 

" The stipe is about four inches long and is grooved 
on its upper side. 

" The pinnae are sometimes nearly two inches long 
and half an inch wide. There are twentj^-two pairs 
of pinnae on the rachis — some are opposite, but most 
are alternate. The pinnae are divided into pinnulae 
or lobes ; there are about forty-four pinnulae on the 
second rachis and they are all opposite." ISA. 



GRADE III. 

The Hemlock Tree. 

' ' The Hemlock is one of the best of our forest 
trees. It is a graceful and very useful tree. It 
makes the best timber for the frame of a barn or a 
house. The bark is used for tanning leather. The 
wood is good to burn in a tight stove, and to heat an 
oven. 

' ' This tree grows best at about forty-five degrees 
north latitude, where it is found ninety feet high and 
three feet in diameter. It grows as far north as sixty 
degrees, but it does not grow nearly so large there. 

" The wood is white, and between the yearly rings 
it is yellow. It comes apart easily between the rings 
because there are no strong rays to hold it together. 
In the best places it grows a quarter of an inch thick 
all round the tree in one year. Where the tree does 
not have a good chance it grows so slow that we can 
scarcely count the rings, because they are so thin. 

" The bark on old trees is an inch thick, and there 
is a new laj^er every year next to the wood. The 
outer bark is gray, or dark brown. The inner layer 
is white with a yellow tint. Between these two lay- 
ers there is a crimson layer and a light brown layer. 



28 THE NEW METHOD 

All through the bark each color shades off into the 
next color, 

" The hemlock tree has the smallest leaf I ever saw 
on any tree. It is only a third of an inch long, and 
the sixteenth of an inch wide. So it takes 48 leaves 
to cover a square inch. They grow alternatel)' all 
around the stem. The shape is linear and it has a 
round base and apex. The leaf is flat and straight. 
The upper side is dark green and glossy. The under 
side has several white lines with parallel green stripes 
between them. Although the tree is an evergreen, 
the leaves stay on only about three years, and new 
leaves come on every year as the twigs grow out 
longer. 

" The seeds are brown on one side and gray on the 
other. The length is the sixteenth of an inch, and 
half as wide. Each seed has a yellow wing about 
the shape of that of a house fly, and the same size. 
The cone is an inch long and half as wide. There 
are about thirty scales on one cone, and two seeds to 
a scale." John. 

The Sun. 

" About two and a half years ago, the first day we 

ever went to school, we learned some very interesting 

things about the sun. The sun has lighted up the 

sky and landscape beautifully every day since, and it 



OF EDUCATION 29 

is almost a thousand days, for in two j-ears there are 
730 days, and in half a year, over a hundred and 
eighty. 

" The girls and boys in our class are now learning 
more about the sun by setting stakes in the ground 
and sighting over them, to see how much it changes 
its place to rise and set each day. We have found 
that soon after we have the shortest days the sun 
rises earlier and farther north every day, and sets 
later and farther north every day. None of us under- 
stands just how this is brought about. It cannot be 
the daily motion of the earth on its axis, so it must 
be its yearly motion round the sun that causes it in 
some way." Ida. 

The Sponge. 

" We are now studying the lowest branches of the 
animal kingdom — the Radiates and Protozoans. 
Every one is familiar with the looks of a sponge, and 
most people who go to the beach have seen the Sea- 
Urchin and Sea-Anemone. 

" The sponge, as we see it every day, is the skele- 
ton of an animal. The flesh of the animal looks like 
jelly : When the sponge is alive, the jelly covers 
every part of the skeleton just as the bones are cov- 
ered in other animals. The sponge is the largest of 
all the Protozoa, and there are many species of them, 
most of which are so small we cannot see them. 



30 THE NEW METHOD 

While the sponge is alive it is always attached to a 
rock. On the top of the sponge are two large holes 
which have smaller ones branching into them. The 
sponge is the most ignorant of all animals. It cannot 
see, hear, taste, smell nor feel, and it seems to know 
nothing at all. It has no blood, and only water cir- 
culates through the tubes. It lives on little animals 
that flow into it through the small tubes with the 
water. 

"The Sea- Anemone belongs to a class a little 
higher than the sponge. It has feelers all around its 
mouth, and they look like fine sea- weed. The feel- 
ers can contract and expand when they like, but their 
movements are very slow. There are many species 
of these animals, and some of them come from eggs, 
and others from buds that grow out as they do on a 
tree." Henry, 

Ferns. 

" The Aspidium thelypteris is a very pretty fern 
and it grows in damp places, generally on the banks 
of brooks or rivers in the eastern United States. 
They do not grow in groups but one alone in a large 
patch of them. It is usually from one to two feet 
high and about five inches wide. 

" The stipe is about five inches long and is slender. 
It is covered with fine hairs and on the under side is 



OF EDUCATION 3 1 

grooved. The frond is generally about twelve inches 
long. 

" The pinnae are remarkable for being nearly the 
same length, until near the apex. They are about 
two. inches long and there are usually about nineteen 
pinnae on each side of the rachis. The pinnae are 
divided into lobes which are cut down nearly to the 
mid-vein. The veins are very fine and are all forked. 
The sori are very small — of a dark brown color, and 
there are from five to ten on each lobe. 

" Most ferns do not have a common name but this 
is called the lady-fern." Nina. 

A Gentle Shower. 

" We were glad yesterday afternoon to have a 
gentle shower without lightning and thunder. The 
rainfall was nearly half an inch. It made the ground 
moist and nice for the roots of trees and grass and all 
other plants. 

" Every plant has a great many roots so small that 
we can hardly see them. The fine roots draw the 
water from the soil and it goes to every part of the 
plant and makes it grow." Jane. 

Nimbus Clouds. 
"The sun is not shining at all this morning. 
Nimbus clouds cover more than three-quarters of the 
sky. The air is not clear and I think it will rain be- 



32 the; nkw method 

fore many hours. Nimbus clouds are rain clouds 
and they are down lower than the other kinds. 
Sometimes there are fair weather clouds over the 
nimbus clouds and much higher up. Through an 
open place in the sky I saw a small cumulous cloud 
up very high above the storm cloud." Mary. 

" This is a bright beautiful morning. There are 
cumulous clouds up about forty degrees high, and 
stratus clouds twenty or thirty degrees above the 
horizon. Both are fair weather clouds and it will 
not storm until we have some nimbus clouds. 

"We had some interesting experiments at ten 
o'clock to show that there is carbon in sugar. Car- 
bon is the same as charcoal, and we saw it taken out 
of the sugar." Ida. 

The Cassis Rufa. 
" The Cassis rufa is a very handsome shell. It is 
very large indeed. It has the aperture on the face, 
like all the Cypraea shells that we have studied. 
The aperture is very large. It is a little more than 
three inches long, and the teeth are in the inside of 
the aperture farther than in Cypraea shells. ' The 
back of the shell is covered with nodules of a grayish 
brown color, while the shell is red and white or 
orange and white. The very top is more of an orange 



OF EDUCATION 33 

color. There are seven whorls to my shell, and they 
reach to the apex which is very small indeed. The 
outer lip is turned up and it has dark brown lines on 
it. The lines are very broad and they grow darker 
towards the apex. The canal turns back and there 
is a deep cavity just behind it." I^ou. 

' ' The Cypraea arenosa is an interesting shell though 
not so pretty as some. It is nearly two inches long 
and over an inch thick. In color, on the back, it is 
of a light reddish yellow, with five lines of deeper red 
running across it. These lines are about a tenth of 
an inch wide ; but they do not show very much at a 
distance, for the color is not a sufficient contrast with 
the rest of the shell. Around the edge of the shell 
there is a raised line about a quarter of an inch wide, 
and it seems to be pure enamel. Its color differs 
enough from the rest of the shell to make a good con- 
trast ; for it is a very pretty fawn color, and it has 
some small white dots over it." Ima. 

" The Harpa minor is a beautiful shell. It is about 
an inch long and three-quarters of an inch wide. 
This shell has five whorls and the body whorl is 
larger than all the others. 

" The outside of the shell is rough, and it has many 
colors. There are different shades of red, blue. 



34 THE NEW METHOD 

yellow, and light and dark brown. There are twelve 
large ribs, and each one has a great number of lines 
crossing it. vSome of the lines go across straight, and 
in some places the lines slant and look like little 
waves. 

" The inside of the shell is very smooth and white 
with a few dark brown spots. There are twelve kinds 
of Harpa shells, and this is, or was when it was found, 
the smallest known Harpa. Harpa minor means 
smallest harp, for the ribs make the shell look like a 
harp. These shells come from the water around the 
Philippine Islands." JoiE. 

"We have been learning some very interesting 
things to-day about the mineral kingdom. The 
natural shape of water and mercury at common 
temperatures is a perfect globe. But in very cold 
weather water freezes, or crystallizes, as we have seen 
it on the window panes, and in snowflakes. 

" All the minerals that form the crust of the earth 
have a natural shape of some kind called a crystal. 
We saw several very pretty ones to-day, and we made 
a drawing of a quartz crystal, which is a six-sided 
prism with a six-sided pyramid at the end." 

Bess. 

The White Ash. 
" The Fraxinus Americana or common White Ash 



OF EDUCATION 35 

is a verj' fine tree. It grows well in all parts of North 
America between forty and fifty degrees north lati- 
tude. It grows well in Canada and all around L,ake 
Superior and all the other great lakes. In the west- 
ern part of Massachusetts it sometimes grows more 
than a hundred feet tall, wath a trunk more than four 
feet in diameter, and sixty or seventy feet high with- 
out a branch. 

" The wood is white, very tough, and very elastic 
and strong. It is used for wheels and all other parts 
of wagons. It is good to burn, and it is put to more 
other uses in this country than any other tree. It is 
used for the handles of rakes, pitchforks, hoes, shov- 
els, and many other tools." 

Feldspar. 

" This morning the air was clear, the sky was deep 
blue, and there was not a cloud to be seen, but before 
noon the sky was completely covered with two or 
three kinds of clouds, and it soon began to rain. 
Yesterday afternoon at recess time there was a long 
cirrus cloud which stretched entirely across the heav- 
ens from horizon to horizon. 

" Our science study to-day was on a mineral called 
feldspar. Next after quartz, it is the most abundant 
of all minerals, and it is found in every country in 
the world. Feldspar is made up of four elements, 



36 THE NEW METHOD 

which are oxygen, the most abundant of all the sev- 
enty elements, silicon, the next most abundant after 
oxygen. These two elements make up three-quarters 
of the weight of feldspar, and two remarkable metals 
make up the other quarter. 

" Another way of stating this, as we do when we 
work problems in arithmetic about this mineral, after 
we see our specimens weighed, is this : In one hun- 
dred grains of pure feldspar there are 46 grains of 
oxygen, 30 grains of silicon, 14 grains of potassium, 
and 10 grains of aluminum. Then in one pound, or 
seventy hundred grains, there are seventy times these 
numbers, and the oxygen is 3220 grains, silicon 2100 
grains, potassium 980 grains, and aluminum 700 
grains. All these parts added make the whole, or 
7000 grains. 

' ' When feldspar is broken the break follows the 
cleavage planes which run through it in two direc- 
tions which are at right angles to each other. These 
planes have a bright pearly luster. Feldspar is not 
quite as hard as quartz. Its degree of hardness is six, 
and quartz is seven, and the diamond is ten, which is 
the hardest thing in the world. Talc is the softest of 
all minerals. Its degree is one in a scale from one to 
ten. Feldspar is slowly ground by natural processes, 
and converted into clay, which is made into pottery, 
and the finest of it into porcelain, another name for 



OF EDUCATION 37 

which is china. Feldspar helps very much to make 
the soil fertile, and by holding the moisture it keeps 
the soil from drying up in a dry summer. 

' ' We have had at least a dozen very brilliant ex- 
periments with the four elements which make up all 
feldspar. Potassium was thrown into water and it 
instantly set the hydrogen in the w^ater on fire, while 
the oxygen set the potassium on fire, and both 
burned together." 

Wheat. 

" For nature study this morning we have the ma- 
ture wheat plant. i\Iy specimen is forty inches high. 
Its color is a beautiful shade of light yellow — the 
real straw color. The nodes, or joints, begin just 
above the roots, and are all just about twice the dis- 
tance from the next ; for instance, the first is one 
inch from the root, the second two inches from that, 
the next about four inches from the second, and so on 
all the way up. The nodes are perfectly solid, while 
the rest of the stock is hollow, and at every node a 
long, narrow, parallel-veined leaf grows out. The 
nodes are of a little darker color than the spaces in 
between, which are called internodes. The inter- 
nodes are largest in the middle, and taper all the way 
from the middle to the nodes. 

" The spike or head of the wheat is about three 



38 THE NEW METHOD 

inches long, and is of the same color as the stalk, and 
there are spikelets growing out alternately on the 
rachis all the way up. The rachis is the stem that 
runs through the spike, and it is all zigzagged, first 
curving to one side and then to the other, with a little 
notch at each bend. 

" The spikelets are made of many parts. First on 
the right and left, is a little boat-shaped husk, called 
the glumes. The glumes are about one-third of an 
inch long. Then come some more little husks of 
nearly the same shape, called paleae. The seed, or 
kernel of wheat grows in the cavity between the two 
paleae, and is completely covered by them. The 
kernel is of a brown color and it has a groove run- 
ning the whole length. There are many varieties of 
wheat, and the kernels of different varieties vary in 
size and hardness, and the color of the flour. 

' ' Wheat is one of the most valuable of all plants. 
The seeds are made up of twelve elements so com- 
bined into several compounds as to make the best of 
food. Wheat will grow in nearly all parts of the world 
except the frigid zones. But it does not grow well in 
the torrid zone, except high on the mountains where 
the climate is cool. A belt of land a thousand miles 
wide, extending across America, Europe and Asia, 
with its southern boundary half way between the 



OF EDUCATION 39 

equator and north pole, contains nearly all the best 
land for wheat in the world. 

" The best wheat area in America begins at the 
Rocky mountains, extends due east a thousand miles 
to the great lakes, Michigan and Superior. Another 
wheat area equally good begins at the Ural moun- 
tains and Ural River, which form the boundary be- 
tween Europe and Asia, extends west one thousand 
miles to the Carpathian mountains and the Baltic 
Sea. It extends from St. Petersburg, the capital of 
Russia, one thousand miles to the Caspian and Black 
Seas. This area is drained by three large rivers — 
the Volga, Don and Dneiper. This great field is all 
in Russia, and the great Russian wheat and flour 
markets are Warsaw, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. 

"The English markets for Russian wheat are 
Dover, London, and Liverpool. The French mar- 
kets are Havre and Paris. In Germany, Hamburg 
on the Elbe, and Berlin, the capital, are great mar- 
kets for wheat." Ella. 



GRADE IV. 

Thk Ackr Pknnsylvanicum. 

" This beautiful little tree has two common names, 
viz. striped maple, and moose- wood. It grows in the 
basin of the Mississippi River all the way between the 
fortieth and fiftieth degree of north latitude. 

' ' On the Appalachian Mountains it grows south as 
far as Georgia, and north to Canada. 

' ' The striped maple generally grows only ten or 
twelve feet high, but where the soil and climate are 
just right it grows thirty-six feet high and seven 
inches in diameter at the base. The use of the 
moose-wood is for inlaying work and other ornaments, 
and also for the food for moose. They eat the bark 
and twigs for the sweet sap in them. When they 
take too much of the bark off it kills the tree. 

"The wood is very heavy and white. The heart 
wood shows the silver grain better than the sap wood. 
On the end where it is cut off, the rays are very fine, 
close together, and very straight. The fibers of the 
wood are not easily separated. 

"The bark of the striped maple is thick and 
fibrous. When dried, it is light reddish brown next 
to the wood, and black, striped with dark brown and 



OF EDUCATION 4I 

green outside, with little raised places all over it. 
On the branches the bark is light and dark green, 
red, white and yellow, with a great number of small 
rings, and some large rings where branches had been. 

" The leaf of this tree is about six inches long and 
four inches wide. In summer the leaf has a light, 
delicate green color, and in autumn it turns to a deli- 
cate yellow with red spots. The tree has a great 
many leaves, and they are large for a small tree. 
They grow opposite, never more than two in a place, 
and where there was a pair of leaves last year there 
is a branch this year, and leaves are growing on it. 
All the leaves have either three, five or seven veins 
close to the stem, and mau}^ veinlets grow in all di- 
rections from these, making a net-veined leaf. The 
margin of the leaf is doubly serrate, and the apex is 
very sharp. The lobes are sharp and the sinuses are 
rounded at the base. 

" The seeds grow in large clusters of forty or more. 
The clusters hang downward twined in among the 
leaves. In the spring the tree has a flower to every 
seed. When the blossom falls off the seed begins to 
form, and it is the same color as the leaf, and in 
autumn it turns yellow and falls off. The seed is in the 
shape of a half ball, and is an eighth of an inch in 
diameter. It has a wdng an inch long and quarter 
of an inch wide, and it is net-veined. After the out- 



42 the; nrw mkthod 

side shell is taken off, a brown seed can be seen, and 
if the outside of this is taken off, the whole tree can be 
seen. There are two leaves, and between them the 
trunk with the root on the end. All parts of the little 
young tree are a light yellowish green color." 

David. 
Dkwdrops. 
" This morning there was a very heavy dew, and I 
could see thousands of rounded dewdrops on the 
grass. It was a beautiful sight, for the dew sparkled 
in the light and I could see nearly all the colors of 
the rainbow. The dew comes from the air. There 
is always water in the air, and the whole atmosphere 
always contains water enough to cover the earth sev- 
eral inches deep. When the air is made cold enough 
the water in it is formed into perfect little globes or 
drops which are perfectl)^ round like the little globes of 
mercury we saw some time ago in the experiments in 
chemistry. When the drops of water are formed in 
a cloud and fall to the ground we say it rains ; when 
the drops are so small we cannot see them they form 
the dew on the grass and trees. In warm weather 
when we have a pitcher of water with ice in it the 
dew collects on the pitcher, but we do not see the 
little globes fall . ' ' Hei.EN . 



of education 43 

The Rock Maple. 

" The Acer saccharinum, or Rock maple, is a very 
beautiful tree, especially in autumn. There are forty 
species of maple in the world, and five of them grow 
in Massachusetts. The largest rock maples grow a 
hundred feet tall and six feet in diameter at the base. 
It is one of our best shade trees and it reaches its great- 
est size and perfection in Vermont and New Hamp- 
shire. The wood is white and very solid and hard. It 
makes the very best wood to burn, and it is highly 
prized for all kinds of nice furniture on account of its 
beautiful silver-grain. 

" The leaf of this tree is four or five inches long, 
and it has many sharp points. In color it is bright 
green and very glossy. The leaf is net-veined and 
the veins are yellow. The stem is about an inch and 
a half long, and there are several small grooves run- 
ning the whole length. The pith rays are very fine 
and lighter in color than the rest of the wood. The 
annual rings are quite thick, and the inner part of 
them is light brown. The ducts, if any, are so fine 
that they can hardly be seen. 

' ' The seeds are round and grow together, separated 
only by the stem. They have wings of a light buff 
color, and the wings have many fine veins. The sap 
of the rock maple tree contains sugar, and if twenty 
pounds of the sap is boiled away, there will be about 



44 ' I'HE NEW METHOD 

a pound of sugar. The trees are tapped for the sap 
about the first of March." 

Radiates. 

" Our science work for to-day is the study of the 
Starfish and Coral Polyp. Both of these belong to a 
very low class of animals, called Radiates. 

"There are hundreds of species of Polyps, and 
they all live in the ocean, and most of them in or 
near the Torrid Zone. They differ very much in size, 
shape and color. Some are microscopic, and some 
are six inches, or even a foot in diameter. The Polyp 
is a tube with a round disc and mouth at the top, 
with a row of feelers around it. The feelers draw in 
particles of dirt, or animal and vegetable substances 
which are the food of the Polyp. These animals 
never move from their place, and when they die 
the skeleton remains and helps to make the coral. 
Coral is of many colors and forms, and many kinds 
are very beautiful. Polyps have done some good, for 
they built up the Maldive and I^acadive Islands of 
coral, which is becoming limestone and marble." 

The Osmunda Cinnamomea. 
" This is one of the most beautiful ferns we have 
studied, and it is as interesting as it is pretty. It is 
found in all the states east of the Mississippi River, 



OP EDUCATION 45 

also in Mexico and Central America, and in Colom- 
bia, Venezuela and Brazil. Also in Asia, the Bahama 
Islands, Hayti and Cuba. It grows from two feet to 
five, and is generally found in shady, low places. 
Its common name is Cinnamon Fern, from the color of 
the wool. 

" The stipe is from six inches to two feet long, and 
is a light green color. Near the base it is covered 
with dark brown spots, and it has two or three deep 
grooves running the whole length. The frond is from 
one to three feet in length, and from half a foot to a 
foot in width. It is a light green color. 

" The pinnae are from two to six inches long and 
nearly an inch wide. There are about thirty-six on 
the rachis and they are all opposite except near the 
apex. They are divided into lobes which are cut 
down nearly to the mid-vein. They are covered with 
very fine hairs, and where they join the rachis there 
is some wool. The wool is found along the stipe, 
and is a bright cinnamon color, from which the fern 
takes its name." Edna. 

Thp: Mitra Episcopalis. 

" We have just finished a very interesting lesson 

on the mitre shell. It belongs to the family of Volu- 

tidae. This shell is about three and a half inches 

long and three-quarters of an inch thick. It looks 



46 THE NKW METHOD 

like a bishop's cap, and that is what its name means. 
The general color of the shell is white, but there are 
large bright red and yellow spots all over it. 

' ' There are two rows of spots nearly a fourth of 
an inch square. Just above these there is a row of 
smaller spots, and again above that there is a row 
of much larger spots which are all different shapes. 
Then, on the next whorl, there is a row of the small 
spots, and above that there is a row of five-sided 
spots. Below the row that I first described there is 
one rather large line of spots, and below that the 
lines are so near together that they run into each 
other. The last two whorls look as if they were made 
of glass. 

" This shell has very fine lines running parallel to 
the suture, which run just as the spots do from whorl 
to whorl. This shell is very thick and heavy. It 
weighs 1468 grains. Like all other shells, it is com- 
posed of oxygen 48 per cent., calcium 40 per cent., 
and carbon 12 per cent. It is found on the shores 
of Ceylon, in shallow water not more than a hundred 
feet deep." Eli,EN. 

Botany. 
"We are studying a very interesting little plant 
this morning which belongs to the Rose Family. 
This is a very large and important family of useful 



OF EDUCATION 47 

plants. It contains nearly a hundred genera and 
more than a thousand species. It includes all kinds 
of roses both wild and cultivated, — all pear, cherry, 
and apple trees, — all raspberries, ])lackberries, and 
strawberries, — all peaches, plums, and apricots. 

" The Spiraea tomentosa, or hardback, is the species 
we have for study. This little shrub grows about 
two or three feet high. The stem is quarter of an 
inch thick near the ground and only half as large in 
the upper part. The branches and leaves are alter- 
nate. The leaf is ovate and has a serrate margin 
and a sharp apex. It is dark green on the upper side 
and very woolly on the under side. The flowers 
grow in a large cluster at the top. The cluster of 
flowers is an inch thick, but it tapers very symmet- 
rically all the way up and comes to a sharp point. 
This plant is sometimes called steeple bush, because 
the cluster of flowers resembles a church steeple, and 
I think its form is a perfect model for a church tower." 

Edith. 

The Conus Marmoreus. 
" The Conus marmoreous is a very beautiful shell. 
It is found most abundantly near the Equator, on the 
shores of Borneo, Sumatra, Celebes, Gilola, Singa- 
pore, and Amboyna. It is found as far north as the 
Mediterranean and Marmora seas, and as far south as 



48 THE NEW METHOD 

the Cape of Good Hope. It is never found in fresh 
water, but the best place for it is in salt water about 
from two hundred feet deep to the shore. There are 
three hundred and seventy-one different kinds of Cone 
shells living, and eighty-four kinds fossil. 

"The shell is about three inches in length, and 
one and a half in diameter. It is covered with angu- 
lar white spots on a very dark brown background. 
The spots are edged with a light orange color. The 
spire is very short and the apex is very blunt. The 
aperture is long and narrow, extending the whole 
length of the body whorl. The inside of it is white 
and a delicate pink. The suture has little teeth about 
one-eighth of an inch apart, and the same in height. 
These teeth are white. The surface of the shell is 
very smooth, and it is quite thick and heavy. The 
body whorl is about four times as large as all the other 
whorls taken together, and the base is grooved. There 
is a little notch at the end of the aperture, near the 
suture. 

" The mollusk lives on the flesh of other mollusks 
and occasionally on seavi^eed. It likes a warm climate 
and hollow rocks with a very little water. It travels 
very slowly." El,IvA. 

The Wind. 
" The air is very still this morning. I could not 



OP EDUCATION 49 

find out which way the wind was till I began to watch 
the smoke coming out of the chimnej'S. There were 
clouds just above the horizon in every direction, but 
I could not see them move at all. About a quarter 
of a mile south of me there was a verj^ tall chimney, 
and the dark gray smoke went up exactl}^ straight 
about sixt)^ or seventy feet, I should say, and then it 
went almost horizontally towards the east. Of course 
I concluded that the wind was west. Soon I began 
to look for other chimney's, and I found that the smoke 
was going in a slanting way to the west from all 
short ones, while it went in the opposite wa}^ from 
the highest ones. My experience this morning re- 
minded me that one day last week I saw clouds high 
up near the zenith moving in three different direc- 
tions. One cloud went south, another northeast, and 
another west. This last went very fast and I found 
that it was not up nearly as high as the others." 

Emma. 

The Apple Tree. 
"This tree belongs to a large class of very im- 
portant and useful plants called the Rose Family. 
The family contains nearly a hundred genera and a 
thousand species of plants. These plants furnish by 
far the greater part of our most delicious fruits, some 
of which are the peach, quince, apricot, pear, plum, 



50 THE NEW METHOD 

cherr3^ strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry. The 
family also ornaments our orchards and gardens with 
the most beautiful and fragrant blossoms from early 
spring till the end of summer. It includes all the 
wild ro§es, such as the sweet brier and the Rosa Car- 
olina, all cultivated roses, the flowering raspberry, 
the spiraeas, and many other plants. 

' ' The largest trees in this family are the pear, apple, 
cherry, the wild sugar pear, and the mountain ash. 
The apple tree does not grow tall, but spreads out 
very broad. The trunk is thick and short. The 
branches are long, and they grow out horizontally 
from the trunk. The tree is very easy to climb, and 
it makes a beautiful sight when it is in full bloom, 
and again when the apples are ripening. 

" The blossom is a beautiful color of light pink and 
white. Just under the five petals there are five green 
sepals, and five small bracts under them. The flower 
has twenty stamens and all its parts but the calyx 
drop off in a few days, but the sepals always remain, 
and may be seen on the end of the apple opposite the 
stem. In the apple there are five carpels, or seed- 
boxes, and two seeds in each." Edith. 



SAMPLES OF JVORK BONE IN THE 
GRAMMAR SCHOOL GRADES 



GRADE V. 
' The Hemi,ock Tree. 

"The Abies Canadensis, or common hemlock 
spruce, is a very beautiful evergreen tree. It grows 
best at about forty-five degrees north latitude, grow- 
ing there about eighty feet in height and two and 
one-half feet in diameter. It is found as far north 
as fifty-one degrees and as far south as forty-one. 
It is the most graceful tree of the cone bearing fam- 
ily, and lives to be three hundred years old. It grows 
as far west as the Pacific Ocean, but not very plenti- 
fully. It is not found in the Old World at all. 

" The bark is very rough and in some places it is of 
a bright crimson color. The inner bark is of a dark 
brown color and is very fibrous. On an old tree the 
bark is very rough, but on the branches and twigs it 
is always .smooth. On an old tree the bark is some- 
times an inch thick. 

" The wood is not very heavy, and is fibrous. The 
heart-wood is a very little darker than the sap-wood. 
The wood splits very easily, because the rays are so 



52 the; new method 

fine that they cannot hold the fibers together very 
strongly. There are no ducts. The wood is used 
mostly for timbers for barns, and sometimes for fuel. 
It is not very often used for fuel, for it snaps a great 
deal. 

" The leaf of the hemlock spruce is something like 
that of the pine. It is linear, and is about one-third 
of an inch in length. There are a great many differ- 
ences between the leaves of the hemlock and pine. 
The pine leaves grow in clusters, while the hemlock 
leaves grow singly. The pine leaves are four-cor- 
nered, while the hemlock leaves are flat. They are 
both alike in remaining green all winter. The hem- 
lock leaves grow on a small stock, or stem, and very 
thickly together. They sprout out of a tiny bulb, 
and there are three sets of them. One row grows 
pointing upward, and on each side there is a row 
pointing outward. The leaves are a very bright 
green color, and glossy on the upper side, but on the 
under side they are a light green with tiny white 
lines. The under side is also glossy. The margin 
is entire and has tiny white hairs. 

" The cone of the hemlock spruce is about three- 
quarters of an inch long, and half an inch thick. It 
consists of many very small scales, which are of a 
dark brown color. The seeds are about one-fifth of 
an inch long, including the wing, which is of a light 



OF EDUCATION 53 

brown color and very thin and delicate. The seed- 
vessel is oval-shaped, and of about the same color as 
the wing." 

The Birches. 
" The birches are very beautiful trees, growing in 
cold climates. They grow very tall toward the 
north, but toward the south they are smaller. The 
best place for them is about sixty-five degrees north 
latitude. There are twenty kinds of birch in the 
world, and six in Massachusetts. They do not grow 
much farther south than the New England states, or 
farther west than Wisconsin. There is one kind 
that grows on the island of Terra del Fuego. The 
tallest birches grow about one hundred feet high." 

The BETUI.A Papyracea. 

" The Betula papyracea, or paper birch, is a very 
graceful tree. The wood is nearly white and is made 
up of small fibers. The pith-rays are very fine, but 
some of them are quite long. The annual rings are 
rather broad and far apart, so that we can easily tell 
the age of the tree. The wood is used for a variety 
of things, such as bureaus, table-legs, hat-blocks, 
and will burn very nicely. When it is split, the 
ducts can be seen quite plainly on the end. The 
bark is pure white, or nearly so, and is very thin. It 



54 THE NKW MKTHOD 

will split into pieces as fine as the thinnest tissue 
paper. It has also little lines about half an inch 
long and one-eighth of an inch thick and perfectly 
straight. They are not in a straight line, but are 
irregular. The leaf is ovate, or egg-shaped, and 
varies from two to about four or five inches in 
length. The margin is doubly-serrate and the 
apex is very pointed. The base is rounded and for 
about half an inch each side of the stem there are no 
notches. The mid-vein is very large and also the 
veinlets, but the veinlets can hardly be seen. The 
leaf is net-veined, and on the upper side it is much 
darker than on the under side. The veins can be 
seen much more plainly on the under side than on 
the upper. The leaves turn yellow in the autumn, 
and grow lighter and lighter until they drop off. 
The stem, or petiole, is about half an inch long, and 
is quite thick. The seeds are contained in a tassel- 
like cone, and there are hundreds of them in a single 
cone. The cone is called a strobile. The strobiles 
vary in shape on the different kinds of birch, some 
being larger on one kind than those of another. The 
seeds are of two different shapes, one kind being very 
similar to the leaf of a cactus, being covered with 
very, very fine hairs, that we cannot see without a 
microscope. The other kind is in somewhat the 
shape of a butterfly, having a body, two wings, and 



OF EDUCATION 55 

something like antennae. The strobile is the name 
of the whole cluster of seeds, which combined make 
a cone-like appearance. It is about one inch or more 
in length, and is of a light reddish-brown color in 
the autumn." 

The Aspidium Margin ale. 

" We have had a lesson today upon a very interest- 
ing and beautiful fern, the name of which is the 
Aspidium marginale. It grows about fifteen inches 
in height, and bends very gracefully. It resembles 
the tree fern, that grew thousands of years ago, more 
nearly than any other fern growing in the United 
States. 

' ' The stipe is about five inches in height, and is of a 
pale yellow color shading into brown near the base. 
There is a deep, broad line on the upper side, be- 
sides smaller ones. There are a great many dark 
brown dots on the under side. The stipe is flat and 
rough, and is much wider at the base than at the 
part nearest the frond. There is a good deal of 
chaff on each side of the stipe near the frond, and it 
is of a light brown color. 

" The root is about a foot in length, and resembles 
the roots of a great many other ferns. It is covered 
with small rootlets which are really the stipes which 
grew a great many years ago. 



56 THE NEW METHOD 

" The frond is a little more than twice the length of 
the stipe. The upper side is of a bright, dark green 
color, but on the under side it is much lighter col- 
ored and very smooth and shiny. The rachis is not 
winged, but has chaff growing out on each side, 
which when pulled out leaves a little dot, like those 
on the under side of the stipe. There is also a broad 
line near the center of the rachis, as on the stipe. 
The pinnae are alternate, and grow nearer together 
near the apex than near the base. There are twenty- 
four on one side of the rachis and twentj'-three on 
the other. Those pinnae near the middle of the 
frond are about three inches in length and one-half 
an inch in breadth, while the two lower pinnae are 
only about two inches long, and the upper ones are 
so small it is difficult to count them. The pinnules 
are alternate, and have an entire margin. They are 
about a third of an inch long and one-fourth of an 
inch broad. They are as broad at the base as they 
are at the apex, the latter being round and broad. 
The veins are of a dark brownish-green color, and 
the apex of the pinnae curves upward. 

" The Aspidiuni marginale takes its first name from 
the sori, which is covered with a little napkin that 
is in the shape of a shield, Aspidium in Greek mean- 
ing a little shield, and its last name, marginale, from 



OF EDUCATION 57 

the sori growing very near the margin of the pinnae. 
The veinlets are forking. 

" The Aspidium raarginale grows on rich hillsides, 
and between rocks in rich soil. It is found in all the 
states east of the Mississippi river, excepting Florida. 
It also grows in Canada as far north as fifty-two 
degrees north latitude, and as far west as lyake 
Winnipeg." 

Titanium Ork. 

"This is a very sunny, beautiful day, warm, and 
very clear air. The wind blows very gently toward 
the east at the rate of about three or four miles an 
hour. The sky is of a bright shade of blue, and is 
partly covered with stratus and cumulus clouds. We 
had a very pleasant recess out today, and when we 
returned we had our second lesson on minerals this 
year. The subject was Titanium ore. 

" This is a very pretty mineral when broken, but on 
the outside it is rather common and plain looking, as 
the colors are dull. When it breaks it has sharp 
angular corners and sparkles a great deal when held 
in the light. In one hundred grains of Titanium ore 
there are sixty-one grains of Titanium, and thirty- 
nine grains of oxygen. Titanium is a metal nearly 
as valuable as gold, and it crystallizes in cubes. It 
is very rare, and very few people know how to obtain 



58 . THK NEW METHOD 

it from the ore. Oxygen is an invisible gas, that 
constitutes the greater part of the air, and makes all 
animals live. It is in water and a great many 
things. Titanium ore is ver}^ hard and heavj^ and 
is used for painting on porcelain, and for giving the 
proper tint to artificial teeth. It was discovered one 
hundred years ago that there was a metal in it, and 
chemists worked on it for fifty years before they 
named it. When first broken, it shows crystals that 
are sometimes of eight, twelve, or sixteen sides, and 
sometimes of no definite shape. In places where it 
is broken, it is of a reddish-silver color, and some- 
times of a dark silver color. But the lighter color is 
the purest, the other having a very small quantity of 
iron that colors it. There are some bright red 
spots on the broken places. Titanium is worth two 
hundred and forty dollars a pound, and burns with a 
more beautiful flame than an}^ other metal. Titanium 
ore is found on the Ozark Mountains, in Arkansas, 
the Alleghany Mountains in the eastern part of the 
United States, the Himalaya Mountains in Asia, the 
Rocky Mountains in North America, the Andes in 
South America. It is also found in England and 
Spain. 

" This ore is never found in large quantity — seldom 
if ever, more than a few ounces at any place." 



GRADE VI. 

Thk Beeches. 
"The Beeches are a very beautiful family of trees 
growing in moist, rich soil. There are sixteen differ- 
ent kinds of beech trees in the world, but only one in 
Massachusetts. There are six different kinds that 
grow on the Andes mountains in Chili. They grow 
on the islands of Tierra del Fuego, New Zealand, 
Van Diemen's Land, and in the western part of 
Asia, the northern part of Europe and America. But 
the tallest are found in western Massachusetts and in 
Ohio, growing there about one hundred feet high and 
from two and a half to three feet thick. They also 
grow along the banks of the Ohio river." 

The American Beech. 
"The Fagus ferruginea or American beech is a 
very beautiful tree. The wood is of a reddish-brown 
color near the pith, but near the bark it is much 
lighter. It is quite heavy and is composed of very 
fine fibers. The pith-rays are rather thick, and can 
be seen only on two opposite sides. On the other 
two sides the ends of them can be seen. The tree we 
studied to-day is a little more than fifty years old, 
and for that reason it is more red than a younger tree 



6o THK NKW METHOD 

would be. The wood is used for plane stocks, chair- 
posts, saw-handles, and sometimes for shoe-lasts. 
The bark is light and dark gray on the outside, but 
golden-brown on the inside. It is very brittle, rather 
smooth and quite thin. There are very small black 
dots on it, and there are no fibers. 

" The leaf varies in length from about three to five 
inches and is net- veined and feather-veined. It is of 
an ovate shape, with an accuminate apex. The mid- 
vein is covered with very fine hairs, which can be 
seen more plainlj^ on the under side than on the 
upper. On the under side the veins are raised from 
the leaf. The margin is coarsely serrate, and there 
is a notch at the end of every veinlet. The margin 
is fringed with very fine hairs that can be seen very 
plainly. The stem, or petiole, is very short and 
crooked. The upper side of the leaf is much darker 
than the under side, and much smoother. In the 
spring, and especially when the leaf is unfolding, the 
under side is covered all over with hairs, and looks 
very pretty. The bud that contains the leaf forms 
in the autumn and remains on the tree all winter 
until they unfold in the spring. The leaves turn 
yellow and brown late in the autumn, but, unlike 
those of some other kinds of trees, they remain on 
until killed by frost, late in the winter. The seed of 
the beech tree is the beechnut, which is held and fas- 



OF EDUCATION 6l 

tened by a bur. The bur has four lobes aud they 
are on two opposite sides. They are covered with 
little prickles on the outside, but on the inside 
they are very smooth. The beechnuts themselves 
are very smooth and there are generally two nuts tc 
each bur. They are triangular, having three sharp 
sides and coming to a very sharp point. The nuts 
are very good to eat, and in France they press great 
quantities of them for the oil, which is good for 
flavoring different articles of food. The stem of the 
bur is .soft and covered with very fine hairs like the 
edge of the leaf. The nuts are very small, being 
only about half an inch long, and each one of the 
three sides are about the same length. They are 
a little larger on some other kinds of beech. The 
stem of the bur is only about one-third of an inch 
long and about one-eighth of an inch thick. When 
the nuts are in the bur the two flat sides come 
together." 

The Oaks. 
" The Oaks are not a very graceful class of trees, 
but are verj-^ majestic and strong. They are distin- 
guished for their great rough bark, the beauty of the 
leaves, for growing very tall and large, and also for 
growing very old. Some of them have been found 
one thousand years old. They are found in the 



62 the; nbw method 

northern part of Africa, in Europe, in Asia, and 
North America. They are also found on the islands 
of Borneo, Celebes, Sumatra and Java. There are 
about one hundred and forty-four different kinds of 
oak trees in the world, twelve of which grow in Mas- 
sachusetts. They do not grow at all in the North 
frigid zone, as it is too cold for them, but mostly in 
the north temperate zone, with a few kinds in the 
torrid. They very rarely grow below the Equator, 
and only a short distance. They grow as far north 
as Hudson Ba}^ and all over North America below 
there. But they grow best on rocky mountains and 
rocky hills." 

The Ouercus Rubra. 
' 'The Ouercus rubra, or common red oak, is excelled 
by none of the oaks in point of strength, majesty, and 
beauty. It grows best in Massachusetts, but grows 
very well in the adjoining states. It does not grow 
farther north than the southern end of Hudson's Bay, 
or farther south than South Carolina. They grow 
west as far as West Virginia. Thej^ grow about 
ninety feet high at the tallest and four feet thick. 
The wood is of a light reddish color, and is composed 
of fibers. It is of a darker color near the pith, and 
the wood near the pith is called heart- wood, and that 
near the bark is called sap-wood. The ducts are 



OF EDUCATION 63 

quite large near the bark, but grow smaller as they 
reach the pith, until they can hardly be seen. They 
are on the annual rings. The pith-rays are quite 
large and wide. The annual rings can hardly be 
seen, as they are so perforated with ducts. The 
wood is used for a variety of things, such as shingles 
for barns, sometimes for ships, and timber. It is 
very good for floors, but it is very _hard to dry. 
Wood that has been kept eighty 3^ears in a house 
will not be dry, and if burned, the sap will ooze out. 
The bark is of a light gra}^ color and thin. 

" The leaf is about four or five inches in length, 
and three inches broad at the widest part. It has nine 
lobes, and the sinuses are very deep and rounded. 
Each lobe has a very sharp bristle, and from two to 
four bristles on the sides. The apex is rather accu- 
minate, and has a bristle at the end. The leaf is 
oval-shaped, growing larger near the apex. The 
petiole is red on the upper side, but is yellow on the 
under, and is not quite round. The mid-vein shows 
much more plainly on the under side than on the 
upper, and also the veinlets. The under side of the 
leaf is much the lighter. In the autumn the leaves 
turn to a brownish-red color, and that is one reason 
why the tree is called the red oak. They never 
turn yellow. The leaf is net-veined. 

' ' The acorn is about one inch long and three- 



64 THK NEW METHOD 

quarters through, and looks as if it had been highly 
polished. The apex is large and rounded, and 
around it for about one-quarter of an inch there is a 
little white silky skin. The shell of the red acorn is 
thicker than that of the white oak, and will not 
shrivel up. If we cut off the shell, we find, by pinch- 
ing a little, a crack by which we can pull apart the 
meat, and we find that the two parts are connected at 
the bottom by a hinge. When the acorn sprouts in 
the ground, this hinge forms either the trunk or the 
roots of the tree. The cup is composed of little 
scales which are pressed in so hard as to present a 
very smooth appearance. It is of a reddish-brown 
color and quite shallow. The inside of the cup is of 
a brown color. On the bottom there is a little 
cushion, which is what the acorn rests on: It 
is white and brown. The inside of the cup is 
very smooth, and around the edges it is of a bright 
orange color and is full of little cells like honey- 
comb. This orange-colored line is the inside of 
the scales. The stem is very short and rough, but 
quite thick." 

The Strombus Lambis 
" The Strombus lambis is a very curious and beau- 
tiful shell, but entirely unlike any other species of 
Strombus we have ever studied. It is of a reddish- 



OF EDUCATION 65 

brown color on the outside, but the inside of the 
outer Hp and aperture is of a bright sahiion color. It 
is verj- thick and heavy. There are seven whorls, 
but the upper whorls are very indistinct and difficult 
to count. On the body whorl there are three rows of 
knobs, but the one nearest the suture is twice as 
large as the other two rows. These rows of knobs 
run parallel with the suture and are about one-third 
of an inch apart. They form, when they reach the 
outer lip, long spines or claws. There are six claws, 
and the two upper ones are about one inch long, 
while the others are about three-quarters of an inch 
long. The upper one grows out very near the apex, 
but curves toward the apex in such a way as to 
nearl}^ cover it up. This gives it the appearance of 
being the continuation of the apex. The two upper 
claws are somewhat straight, but the others are 
straight only about half way, and then curve upward. 
Between the lines that form a portion of the claws, 
there are other raised lines running in the same 
direction. The claws are hollow. There is a canal 
about an inch long, at the lower end of the aperture. 
The base of the shell curves in, near the upper end 
of the canal. This part of the .shell is very thin and 
brittle, and also translucent. There are rounded 
knobs on the edge of the outer lip, which are of a 
yellowish white color. The pillar is of the same 



66 THK NEW METHOD 

color as these knobs, and is very smooth. There is 
a light pink spot on the side of the shell near the 
pillar. The suture can not be seen. 

"The mollusk lives in shallow water around the 
Japan Islands, the Philippine Islands, Borneo, 
Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Gilolo, Ceram, Amboyna, 
Timor, Surabawa, Sumba, Socotra, Ceylon, the 
Maldive and lyaccadive Islands, the Comoro Islands, 
Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion, and on the 
coasts of China, Hindostan, Beluchistan, Persia, 
Arabia, Turkej^ Somali, Zanguebar, Mozambique, 
Zulu Land, Natal, Caffraria and Cape Colon5^ 
There are one thousand of the Japan Islands, and 
they are very mountainous, some of the mountains 
being two miles high. The best market-places for 
the Strombus lambis are at Tokio, the capital of 
Japan, Borneo, the capital of Borneo, Manila, the 
capital of the Philippine Islands, Colombo, the capi- 
tal of Ceylon, and Tanauarivo, the capital of Mada- 
gascar. There are sixty-five different species of 
Strombus, and we have studied five, the Strombus 
Canarium, the Strombus lentiginosus, the Strom- 
bus pugilis, the Strombus melanostoma, and the 
Strombus lambis." 

ASBESTUS 
"This is a very beautiful day, but considerably 



OF EDUCATION 67 

cooler than any day we have had this week. The 
wind blows quite roughly toward the northwest, and 
at about the rate of eight or nine miles an hour. It 
takes a good deal of dust along with it, as we have 
not had any rain for several days. The sky is of a 
light shade of blue, and there are a great many beau- 
tiful cumulus clouds, some of them being rather dark 
colored. We did several problems in Interest before 
recess this morning, and then we went out and had a 
very nice time. When we came in w^e had a lesson 
on a mineral called Asbestus. 

" This is a ver^^ interesting as well as beautiful 
mineral, more beautiful than any we have had this 
year. It is called fibrous asbestus, because it is 
made up of fibers. It is always found between two 
banks of other kinds of rock. The fibers are of a 
greenish-white color, and will not burn. For this 
reason the Greeks and Romans used it to make nap- 
kins of, as when they became soiled, the way to 
clean them was to put them in a hot fire, which 
would burn the dirt off. They also used it for wicks 
for lamps, which they kept constantly burning in 
their temples to the heathen gods and goddesses, and 
it was known to burn for hundreds of j-ears without 
consuming. For that reason the Greeks named it 
asbestos, meaning in the Greek language, not to be 
consumed. The people now use it for firemen's 



68 THE NEW METHOD 

gloves, and other things. It is of various shades of 
green, beautifully mixed, and when held in the light 
it sparkles like very bright silver. When the fibers 
are separated, which is very easily done, they can 
be twisted into a very strong cord. They are very 
fine, and it irritates the skin if rubbed against it. It 
is composed of oxygen, silicon, magnesium and cal- 
cium, but the percentage is not known for certainty, 
as it is very difiicult to analyze. Each little fiber is 
a crystal. It is very heavy, but it is not known what 
the degree of hardness is. It is a variety of Horn- 
blende, and the only variety that is used for anything. 
It is found on the Alleghany Mountains in the eastern 
part of the United States, Sierra Nevada Mountains 
in the western part of the United States, the Sierra 
Madre Mountains in Mexico, the Apennines in Italy, 
the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, in the northwestern 
part or Africa, the Himalaya Mountains in Asia, and 
the Hecla Volcano in Iceland. The market-places 
for asbestus are at Little Rock, the capital of 
Arkansas, Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, 
Reykjavic, the capital of Iceland, Mexico, the capi- 
tal of Mexico, Sacramento, the capital of California, 
Rome, the capital of Ital}^ Calcutta, the capital of 
Hindostan, and Morocco, the capital of Morocco. 
Also Quebec, the capital of Canada." 



GRADE VII. 
The Ostrya Virginica. 

" The Ostrya Virginica, or common Hop-horn- 
beam is a ver}^ beautiful tree. It is also quite grace- 
ful, as the twigs are very small. In most parts of 
America it is called iron-wood, but in Maine, New 
Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts it is gener- 
ally called lever-wood. It grows best at about forty- 
three degrees north latitude, growing there about 
forty feet high and one foot in diameter. It is found 
in all the states east of the Mississippi and as far 
north as the Strait of Belle Isle, the East Main and 
Albany rivers and Eake Winnipeg. It is the only 
kind of Ostrya growing in North America and there 
are only about six in the world. 

" The bark is thinner than that of any other tree 
we have studied, and the outer bark is quite rough. 
The outer bark is of different shades of brown mixed 
with black, while the inner bark is of a golden brown 
color and very fibrous. 

" The wood of the hop-hornbeam is of a light color, 
but the heart-wood is very nearly the color of the 
black walnut. It is very hard and heavy and is com- 
posed of very fine fibers. It is also very hard to split. 
The rays are very fine, and the ducts can hardly be 



yo THK NEW METHOD 

seen. The annual rings can be seen very plainly. 
It resembles the moose-\YOod, birch, and rock maple 
very much. It is used for tlie cogs of mill- wheels, 
mallets, and binding-poles. 

" The hop-hornbeam tree has a very beautiful leaf, 
greatly resembling that of the birch. It is about 
three inches in length, and about one inch in diam- 
eter. It is of a pointed ovate shape and has a doubly 
serrate margin. The apex is very sharp, and the 
veinlets are parallel. 

"The seed of the hop-hornbeam is about one-half 
of an inch long, including the sack which encloses it. 
This little sack is very thin and brittle, and is of a 
delicate brown color. The seeds themselves are only 
about one-quarter of an inch long and quite hard. 
The seeds grow in clusters, and the clusters are about 
one inch and a half in length. The seed has a very 
sharp apex, and is covered with fine prickl}- hairs. 
The sack is net-veined, and is translucent. The 
clusters of seeds greatly resemble hops, which 
accounts for its being named hop-hornbeam." 

SiDERlTE. 

"This is a cold but pleasant day, and the sun 
shines brightly. There are no clouds in the sky. 
This morning there was a slight haze in the air, 



OF EDUCATION 7I 

making distant objects look indistinct. There is a 
gentle west wind blowing now. 

"We have had a pleasant lesson on a mineral 
called siderite. This beautiful and interesting min- 
eral is of a dark golden brown color, with cleavage 
faces running in three directions. It is a kind of 
steel ore. Massive siderite has rough surfaces, with 
the cleavage faces in small pieces. Siderite crystal- 
lizes in rhombohedrons, but is rarely found crystal- 
lized. It is composed of three elements, iron, oxygen, 
and carbon. Forty-eight per cent, of siderite is iron, 
forty-two per cent, is oxygen, and ten per cent, is 
carbon. Iron is the most useful of all metals, and 
the most abundant of all elements after oxygen, 
silicon, and aluminum. It is used for a great many 
things. Oxygen is the most abundant of all elements. 
It is an invisible gas, and supports fire, and all ani- 
mal life. It makes up eighty-nine per cent, of water, 
and forty-five per cent, of the whole crust of the 
earth. Carbon is the same as charcoal, and the dia- 
mond is pure crystallized carbon. It is a very use- 
ful element. The luster of siderite greatly resembles 
that of feldspar, l)ut it has a little of a metallic luster, 
besides the pearly. Some very smooth cleavage 
planes are .slightly iridescent. The degi'ee of hard- 
ness is four, a little more than that of galena, which 
is about three. The specific gravity is four, about 



72 THK NBW METHOD 

half that of galena. Siderite is often found in cryo- 
lite, and my largest specimen contains some of that 
mineral. I have a specimen of siderite which is of a 
much lighter color than the other, and contains some 
copper and iron pyrite which is in some places irides- 
cent. The copper pyrite is of a very bright golden 
color, shading to red in some places. Siderite, when 
held in the light, sparkles ver}^ beautifully, owing to 
the cleavage faces. 

" It is found in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 
Pennsylvania, and Ohio, but not in large quantities, 
it being found most plentifully in Connecticut and in 
Greenland. It is also found in England, Germany, 
Austria and Russia." 

The Strombus Melanostoma. 

' ' The Strombus melanostoma is a very beautiful 
shell. It resembles the Strombus pugilis somewhat 
in shape, but it is narrower in proportion to the 
length than that shell, or any other kind of Strombus 
we have studied. It is found on the shores of the 
Andaman and Nicobar islands and in all the places 
where the Conns striatus is found. The best market- 
places for this shell are at Calcutta, Colombo, and 
Bombay. There are only sixty-five different species 
of Strombus in the world. 

' ' The Strombus melanostoma is about three inches 



OF EDUCATION 73 

in length and one and one-half in breadth. It is 
very heavy. There are seven whorls, and the apex 
is rather blunt. The body whorl has three rows of 
knobs running parallel with the suture. The one 
nearest the suture has longer knobs than the other 
two rows. The other whorls have only one row of 
knobs and after the two whorls nearest the body 
whorl they can hardly be seen. All the whorls are of 
a light grayish white color, but if held in the sun- 
light, the)' have a pearly luster, particularly near the 
apex. There are great numbers of lines running in 
the same direction as the knobs, which are raised. 
The lines of growth are scarcely perceptible. The 
suture is quite broad and considerabl}^ raised. The 
upper part of the pillar is of a rich black color shad- 
ing into a bright orange, near the ba.se. The lower 
half projects in toward the aperture. The inside of 
the aperture is also of a bright orange color in as far 
as we can see and is very smooth. The edge of the 
outer lip curves in, and is very thick. The outside 
is striped with white and brown. Inside of these 
stripes there is a brown and silver stripe, running 
lengthwise, while the other lines run crosswise. At 
the upper end of the aperture, there is a long point 
projecting upward. This point is about one-third of 
an inch in length, and is of a black color. Between 
this point and the shell there is a broad, deep notch 



74 the; ne;w me;thod 

or canal of the same color as the point. There is also 
a very long, narrow canal formed by the base curv- 
ing outward. There is, near this canal, what seems 
to be another canal. This is made by the lower edge 
of the outer lip curving backward and inward." 

The Fraxinus Americana. 

" The Fraxinus Americana, or common white ash, 
is a very beautiful tree. When young it is of a very 
graceful shape, but when old it is rather stiff. It 
grows best at about the same place as the hemlock 
spruce, but the very best place for them is on the 
banks of the Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, 
Merrimac, Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Sus- 
quehanna rivers. The tallest are found as high as 
eighty feet, and three feet in diameter, sometimes 
growing as high as fifty or sixty feet without a limb. 
They are found as far south as the hemlock spruce, 
about as far south as the Middle States reach. 

" The bark is rather thick and on the outside it is 
quite rough. The outer bark is of different shades of 
brown and gray, and there are a great many lichens 
on it. The inner bark is of an orange brown color 
and the layers are easily seen. It has rather a 
spicy odor. 

"The heart- wood of the white ash is a very little 
darker than the sap-wood. The color of the wood is 



OP EDUCATION 75 

a liglit reddish-brown, quite like that of the black 
cherry. It is rather heavy and fibrous. The ducts 
are quite larj^e, and the silver-grain is easily seen 
and sparkles when held to the light. The rays are 
very fine. The pith is quite soft. The wood is very 
hard and tough, and is used for a variety of. purposes, 
such as frames for chairs and sofas, handles for ham- 
mers, rakes, hoes, and shovels, bows, oars for boats, 
and other things. 

" The white ash has a compound leaf, with gener- 
ally five leaflets. They grow" opposite on the stem, 
with one odd one at the top. The leaf varies in 
length, from six to about ten inches including the 
petiole. The top leaflet is much the largest, being 
about four inches and a half in length and three 
inches wide. The other leaflets are about all differ- 
ent in size and shape. The upper side of the leaflets 
is of a dark green color, but the under side is of a 
light silver green color. The veinlets and the mid- 
veins are raised up on the under side and are also of 
a very light silver color. The shape of the leaflets is 
ovate and pointed, and the apex is rather blunt. 
The margin is serrate and the teeth are rather far 
apart. The petiole is nearly round, and is of a light 
yellowish-brown color. The petiolules are very short 
and are of about the same color as the petiole. They 



76 THE NKW MKTHOD 

are very fine. The leaves turn in the autumn to a 
yellowish-brown color, and they are very thin. 

" The seed resembles that of the black ash in many 
respects, and also differs from it in many respects. 
It is not so broad as that of the black ash, but is of 
about the same color. It is of a light greenish-yel- 
low, and is about two inches long, and one-third of 
an inch broad. The seed-vessel is oval-shaped and 
is very thick. The seed has one wing which is 
parallel-veined and quite thick." 

The Adiantum Pedatum. 

" Our lesson to-day is upon a very graceful as well 
as beautiful fern, and one of the most remarkable 
growing in North America. It is called the Adian-* 
tum pedatum, but a more common name is maiden's 
hair. It grows from eight to fifteen inches in height, 
in rich soil, rather damp, and in shady places. It 
often grows in the same places with the Aspidium 
marginale. 

' ' The root of this fern resembles that of the Ono- 
clea sensibilis, and is about twice as large as the 
stipe. It grows horizontally on the top of the ground. 
The stipe is about seven inches long, and quite thick. 
There are several grooves on the upper side, some 
being deeper than others. The upper side is nearly 
black, but the under side is of a rich dark brown 



OF EDUCATION 77 

color, and both sides are polished. The rachis is 
divided into two parts, each of which are again 
divided into five parts, called the secondary rachises. 
The}' are of a lighter color than the stipe, and are 
grooved. There are eleven pinnae, the longest be- 
ing about seven inches in length, and the shortest 
only about an inch and a half in length. The frond 
is about ten inches in breadth, and six in height. 
The general shape is very much like a fan. The 
pinnules average about one-third of an inch in 
breadth, and one-half an inch in length. They are 
of a pale green color, and the veinlets are forking. 
The under side of the pinnules is not as smooth as 
the upper. The lower margin is entire, but the up- 
per margin is notched, and the edge of the pinnules 
next the stipe is parallel to it. The stem is very 
short and fine. There are about thirty pinnules on 
the largest pinnae, and on the smaller ones about 
fifteen. The sori grow in a very curious manner. 
A small portion of the edge of the pinnule is turned 
over, with the sori underneath. They are crescent 
shaped, and are very small. It would take five hun- 
dred of them placed side by side to reach one inch. 

"The Adiantum pedatum grows in all the States 
east of the Mississippi River, except Florida, and in 
Washington Territory, Oregon, California, and Utah 
Territory. It also grows in British America as far 



yS THE NEW METHOD 

north as the East Main River, in Newfoitndland and 
as far west as I^ake Winnipeg ; in British Colombia, 
and on the islands south of Alaska. It grows in 
Asia in Nepaul, a province in the north of India in 
Mantchooria, one of the northern divisions of the 
Chinese Empire, and in the Japan Empire, and 
Kamtchatka. This makes about one-nineteenth of 
the land surface of the earth." 

Zircon. 
" This is not a very pleasant day, but cloudy, with 
the sun shining at intervals. A disagreeable snow- 
storm commenced Saturday afternoon, and continued 
a good part of 5^esterday, and there is a good deal of , 
it left now. The wind is north-east, and the sky is f 
completely covered with cumulus and nimbus clouds. / 
Saturday afternoon I attended a public rehearsal of| 
the Handel and Haydn Society, and I enjoyed it veryk 
much. We had a ver}^ nice time out at recess to-day 
and on our return we had a very interesting lesso 



/ 



'iff 



on a gem called Zircon. ff ' 

id 

" This is a very beautiful gem and the most expe ' 
sive mineral we have ever studied. When not crysti 
lized, it is called zircouite. It crystallizes in crysta^ls 
that resemble those of quartz very much, only the 
crystals of quartz have six sides and eighteen faces 
in all, while those of zircon have only four wit'h 



OF KDUCATION 79 

twelve faces. The ends of the pyramids are very 
sharp. Zircon is the hardest mineral we have ever 
studied, its degree of hardness being between seven 
and eight. My specimens are about seven and three- 
quarters. All sides of crystals are very shiny and 
smooth. They are prisms with a pyramid at each 
end, if the crystals are perfect. 

"The color of zircon is a light chocolate brown, 
but sometimes it is white and reddish colored. It is 
spotted light and dark brown in some places. It is 
composed of zirconium, oxygen, and silicon. In one 
hundred grains of zircon, there are forty-nine grains 
of zirconium, thirty-five of oxygen, and sixteen of 
silicon. Zirconium is a very beautiful metal resem- 
bling silver in color, and is five times as valuable as 
gold, being worth fifteen hundred dollars a pound. 
There has as yet been no use put to it, but .sometime 
it may be very useful. Oxygen is a very useful gas, 
as it keeps all animals alive, and is in a great many 
minerals, in all shells and limestone, and a great 
riany other things. Silicon is not a metal, but it is 
ii a great many different minerals. It is very rare, 
lud difficult to extract from the rocks. Zircon is 
used in jewelry, being sometimes passed off for dia- 
monds when of a white color. When it is of a reddish 
color, it is called hyacinth. ' 

* ' Zircon is found in the Adirondack Mountains in 



8o THB NEW METHOD 

New York State, the Blue Ridge, running through 
the western part of North Carolina, the Ural Moun- 
tains, that form a part of the boundary line between 
Europe and Asia, the Altai Mountains, near the 
central part of Asia, and Adam's Peak, one of the 
Ceylon Mountains in Ceylon. The market-places for 
zircon are at Albany, the capital of New York State, 
Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, St. Peters- 
burg, the capital of Russia, and Colombo, the capital 
of Ceylon." 

Birds. 

"It is very warm and pleasant today, and every- 
thing seems fresher for the recent rain. The sky is 
of a very delicate shade of blue, and there are a num- 
ber of stratus and cumulus clouds which look very 
beautiful mixed with the blue. The air near us 
seems clear, but if we look off for some distance it 
seems hazy. There is a gentle south-west wind 
blowing at the rate of about five or six miles an hour. 
The trees are beginning to have large buds, and I 
think they will soon show blossom. 

"We have had our first lesson on birds for this 
3^ear, and the subject today was the Night Heron. 
It is a very interesting as well as beautiful bird, and 
is called by that name because it travels only in the 
night. It is about sixteen inches high, and eighteen 
inches long. The back is of a rich black color with 



OF EDUCATION 8l 

a green gloss. The wings are of a delicate gray 
color, and the throat and neck are white, also the 
breast. The crest is of the same color as the back, 
and there is a streak of black running from the crest 
across the neck to the back. There is a plume con- 
sisting of three small ones twisted together, reaching 
from the crest to the back. The bill is black, and 
the upper mandible projects out a little farther than 
the lower. The upper mandible curves downward, 
and the point is very sharp. The tail is rather short, 
and is made up of twelve white feathers. The legs 
are covered with feathers down to the first joint, and 
they are quite large. The feet are made up of four 
claws, three at the front and one at the back. 

" The Night Heron feeds upon the frogs, lizards, 
insects, fishes, and mice, which he swallows whole. 
There are four eggs, and they are of a delicate sea- 
green color, and are about two inches long and one 
and one-half in thickness. They are found at or 
near the mouths of the Colorado, Brazos, Trinity, 
and Sabine rivers in Texas, the Mississippi and 
Pearl rivers in Louisiana, the Appalachicola and St. 
Johns rivers in Florida, the Mobile River in Ala- 
bama, and all the southern rivers up as far as the 
Roanoke River, in North Carolina. These are their 
winter homes, but in summer they go as far north as 
the Penobscot River in Maine, and no farther. They 
live in the marshes and all wet places." 



GRADE VIII. 

The Juglans Nigra. 

" The Juglans nigra, or common black walnut, is 
a very beautiful tree, the largest growing as high 
as ninety feet and five feet thick. There are two 
kinds of walnut growing in Massachusetts and only 
about six in the world. The black walnut grows 
in Massachusetts about one hundred miles from Bos- 
ton, but grows best in Ohio, along the banks on both 
sides of the Ohio river. It also grows on the banks 
of the Alleghaney and Monongahela rivers. It 
grows as far north as Massachusetts, and west of the 
Alleghaney mountains it grows a little farther north, 
about forty-four degrees north latitude. On the 
numerous islands of the Ohio river they are found 
very plentifully, fully as well as anywhere in the 
country. It does not grow farther west than the Mis- 
sissippi, and is not found anywhere in the old world. 

' ' The bark is of a light gray color and the layers 
can be seen very plainly. The inner bark is of a 
dark brown color and quite fibrous. 

"The wood, when green, is of a light color, near 
the bark, but near the pith it is very dark brown. 
When the tree grows older the wood turns darker, 
and when the wood is dried it turns to a dark brown 



THR NEW MKTHOD OF KDUCATION 83 

color. The rays are very fine indeed, and also the 
ducts. The wood is rather heavy and tough. It is 
used for various purposes, such as bureaus, ward- 
robes, brackets, book-cases, chairs, tables, gun-stocks, 
and picture frames. In that part of the country 
where the walnut trees flourish, the wood is some- 
times used for fences, as it will last a great while. 

" The black walnut tree has a compound leaf, with 
a variable number of leaflets. The leaflets are of a 
pointed ovate shape, and are net-veined and feather- 
veined. The margin is serrate and the veins show 
very plainly. The mid-vein is very nearly round, 
and is of a dark brown color with tiny white hairs. 
The leaflets are opposite on the mid-vein. The leaf 
is generally about one foot long, sometimes more. 
The petiole is about four inches long, but the petioles 
of the leaflets are very short indeed. The leaflets 
are about two or three inches long and are lighter on 
the under side than on the upper. One reason why 
the black walnut tree is so graceful is because the 
leaves are so long and have so many leaflets. When 
the leaves are full of sap they are quite fragrant. In 
the autumn the leaves turn to a yellowish color. 

" The walnut is very large and very nearly round. 
The epicarp, or outer shell, is quite thick and hard, 
and is rough and pebbly. When the nut is on the 
tree the epicarp is green, but when dry it is of a light 



84 THE NEW METHOD 

and dark brown color. The endocarp, or inner shell, 
is very hard and bony, and the nut resembles the 
hickory nut. The name that is commonly given to 
the hickory nut is walnut, but that is not correct. 
The hickory nut is much smaller than the walnut. 
The walnut is about two inches in diameter, and four 
or five inches round it every way. It is quite heavy." 

The Oxide of Aluminum. 

" This is a beautiful day, warm and sunny. There 
are a very few stratus and cumulus clouds in different 
parts of the sky, and they look like banks of snow. 
The sky is of a delicate shade of blue, and there is 
quite a rough wind V)lowing, making it very dusty. 
There has been no rain for more than a week. The 
grass is quite green, and the crocuses look very pretty 
mixed with it. There have been a few mayflowers 
brought in from the country for sale, but they are not 
plenty as yet. The robins have been here for about 
a week. I attended a very beautiful concert last 
Friday afternoon, which I enjoyed very much. We 
studied a mineral to-day called ruby sapphire. 

"This is a very beautiful and interesting gem, 
commonly called ruby. A ruby from five carats (or 
twenty grains) upward is worth more than a diamond 
of the same size, but small diamonds are worth more 
than small rubies. The degree of hardness of ruby 



OF EDUCATION 85 

is nine, the hardest mineral we have ever studied. 
It is of a beautiful pink color of different shades, the 
larj^er ones being of a deeper color than the smaller 
ones. 

" Ruby sapphire is composed of oxygen, aluminum 
and chromium. In one hundred grains of ruby there 
are fifty-three grains of aluminum, forty-six and one- 
half of oxygen, and one-half a grain of chromium, 
which gives it the color. All the varieties of sapphire 
have the same composition, and are all colored with 
chromium, giving sometimes a green color, then 
called emerald sapphire, sometimes a yellow color, 
then called topaz sapphire, sometimes of a blue color, 
the sapphire itself, and sometimes of a purple or 
violet color, called amethyst sapphire. The emerald 
sapphire is so rare that it is rarely seen, but still it is 
not so expensive as the ruby sapphire, the most ex- 
pensive of all the varieties. It crystallizes in rhoni- 
bohedrons, variously modified. The difference in 
color in the different varieties of sapphire is accord- 
ing to the quantity of chromium. Aluminum is a 
very beautiful silvery metal, very light, and easily 
bent. If we should burn it in oxygen, which is very 
difficult to do, the ashes, or remaining portion, would 
be the same substance as ruby sapphire. Oxygen is 
a very useful invisible gas, which sustains fire, keeps 
all animals alive, and is in a great many different 



86 THE NEW METHOD 

kinds of minerals and in all shells. It is colorless, 
tasteless, and odorless. Chromium is the coloring 
element in a great many minerals. Ruby sapphire is 
used for various articles of jewelry, and, when set, is 
very beautiful. 

"Ruby sapphire is found on the Alleghany Moun- 
tains in the western part of North Carolina ; on the 
Himalaya Mountains, the highest in the world, in the 
northern part of Hindostan and Indo-China, which is 
where my specimens came from, and where all the 
finest specimens are found. It is also found on the 
Auvergne and Cevennes Mountains in France, the 
Carpathian Mountains in the central part of Austria, 
and the Ural Mountains on the boundary line between 
Europe and Asia, though rubies are mostly found on 
the Asiatic side. They are often called oriental 
rubies, from their being found mostly in India. The 
ruby mines are owned by the government, and a large 
reward is often paid to those who find the valuable 
ones. When an exceptionally large one is found, the 
King has a great celebration and procession, and the 
men of high rank ride on elephants. The market- 
places for ruby are at Bankok, the capital of Indo- 
China, a very large city ; Paris, the capital of France, 
on the River Seine, a very beautiful city ; Ivyons, in 
the central or southern part of France ; Dresden, on 
the River Elbe, aLso a beautiful city ; Moscow, in the 



OF EDUCATION 87 

central part of Russia, distinguished for the largest 
bell in the world which is rung, weighing fifty-nine 
tons. There is one weighing two hundred and fifty 
tons, which is never rung. Also Raleigh, the capital 
of North Carolina, and Trenton, the capital of New 
Jersey." 



PART III 

SCHOOL REPORTS 



SCHOOL REPORTS, SECTION I 



Since in my attempt at the District School Meet- 
ing to make a report of the condition of the High 
School, together with a brief reply to several unrea- 
sonable attacks and malicious charges against me, I 
was frequently interrupted and compelled to withdraw 
in the midst of my remarks, I therefore respectfully 
submit to the legal voters of District No. i, the follow- 
ing report, omitting the greater part of that portion 
which I succeeded, under many difl&culties, in giving 
verbally. 

I will first reply to some of the numerous errors in 
the statements of the chairman of the committee in 
his report. On the second page of that document I 
find the following : 



All teachers in this town have been furnished with regis- 
ters, and all, with one exception, have returned them. Your 
committee have just been informed that the teacher of the 
high school has never returned a register nor suggested any 
excuse for not returning them. Your committee supposed 
until now that they had been duly returned to the superin- 
tending committee of the town. We venture to hope that 
this useful law will not be nullified hereafter. 



2 THE NEW METHOD 

I beg leave to say that in this charge there is not 
one word of truth. I have been furnished with only 
one register annually, and that has been duly re- 
turned with all the facts required by law. I can 
easily prove this by inserting a statement by Mr. 
Averill, who has for many years been the superin- 
tending committee of the town. 

I have annually sent to Mr. Whittemore one school regis- 
ter with the request that he would furnish me with answers 
to the questions therein contained, and he has returned it, 
promptly, with such answers. 

C. S. AVERII.1., 
Superintending School Committee of Milford. 

Instead of neglecting my duty in this respect, I 
have done more than the law requires. I have, each 
term, at my own expense, published one hundred and 
fifty copies of the statistics required by law, together 
with many other facts of interest, and have furnished 
both the committee and each scholar with a copy, so 
that every family that had a child in school might 
have a complete record of every term. 

If any one has neglected his duty or failed to 
understand it, the chairman of the committee is the 
man. It was his duty to furnish the teachers of 
District No. i with registers sufficient to record the 
name of every scholar. This would require two in 
the high school each term, but he has never fur- 



OF EDUCATION 3 

nished one. There is no law that requires a teacher 
to fill registers which the committee have never fur- 
nished. May we not venture to express a hope that 
our committee may hereafter have a chairman that 
will both know and do his duty ? 

On the third page of Mr. Wadleigh's report the 
following statement may be found : 

As to the "model classes " of small children iu the high 
school — it may be proper to state that your committee ob- 
jected in the beginning to the formation of such classes, on 
the ground that, however desirable they might be in some 
respects, they would injure the cause of education by creat- 
ing jealously and discord in the district. They finally 
yielded, however, to the wishes of the principal and con- 
sented to the establishment of one class with eight members. 
Now there are in the high school three classes containing 
twenty-four members. The main argument used by the 
principal in their favor was, that they were necessary to 
carry out a grand experiment which he was making here, 
which would result in establishing a new method of teaching, 
called by him the "normal" method, and in supplanting 
and overthrowing all other existing systems of education. 

As to the weight of this argument, your committee will 
give no opinion. 

It may be well for our committee to suspend the 
expression of their opinion, at least until they have 
seen our classes work for an hour or so, and it maj' 
not be necessary for them to say a word about it at 
all, since an opinion has been expressed so frequently 
on this point by such men as Pestalozzi, Mayo and 



4 THE NEW METHOD 

Herbert Spencer in Europe, and Agassiz, Russell, 
Colburn, Calkins, Sheldon and other educators in 
America. 

These distinguished men, as well as many others, 
have spent their lives in introducing throughout 
Europe and America the principles of educational 
science and reform which I have, with such ability 
as was given me, humbly sought for the last twelve 
years to inculcate in the minds of the young people 
of Milford. It may not be improper to state here 
that my education was directed by several of the 
above named men, at normal schools and colleges, 
for some years before I came to Milford, and that I 
was appointed by them to do the work somewhere, 
that I have been doing in Milford. 

Society has nowhere recognized progress as a pri- 
mary principle of natural law. Kings still strive to 
reconcile their subjects to effete systems of govern- 
ment. Obedience to old forms is held forth as a 
virtue. Like natural organisms, every human device 
must have a growth ; it cannot be born perfect. The 
more complicated it is, the slower its growth must be. 

But there are those in every community who 
imagine the "Ark of Truth" to be endangered 
whenever any change is made in the management of 
any branch of human interests. Opposition is awak- 
ened, as if truth could be overthrown by error. They 



OF EDUCATION 5 

think that everything is about to be lost when all is 
to be gained. 

Is not the knowledge of truth progressive ? Is 
there not a principle within us which, when once 
awakened, craves for progress and cannot be satisfied 
without it ? However great our progress, this urges 
us on to still greater achievements, and there is no 
reason to believe that our methods of carrying on 
human industries will ever cease to be superseded or 
improved. There can be no end to discoveries in 
nature, for the great Architect conceals nothing. 
Upon every natural object is written, by the Creator, 
its history and its use. We may not always read 
aright, for we live in the infancy of systematic in- 
quiry. We are not satisfied with things as they were 
thirty year ago. At that time only the favored few 
could, for instance, possess the likeness of his nearest 
friend, and that was made by the devious hand of 
man. Behold the change! One of nature's forces now 
does the work. That agent which darts forth from 
world to world throughout immensity and, com- 
manded by Omnipotence, lights up the universe, 
marshals the elements into forms of utility and beauty, 
and covers the hills and plains with waving grasses 
and flowers of every hue. Under the directing hand 
of the modern artist the agent that paints the rainbow 
paints alike the pictures of friends and of scenery, 



6 THE NEW METHOD 

and adorns and enlivens our homes, almost gratui- 
tously, with the lineaments of a hundred familiar 
faces. Another force is caught by the hand of science, 
and bid to carry intelligence, swifter than light, from 
continent to continent. Another is made subservient 
by propelling our vehicles rapidly over every land 
and every sea. So it is in all the arts and all the 
sciences which give rise to art. We must extend the 
knowledge of our predecessors and correct their 
errors. Our errors will be corrected by our succes- 
sors, and theirs by those who succeed them. 

In regard to the " grand experiment, " I will here 
state that I have never used the word experiment in 
speaking of the model classes. The experimenting 
was all done years ago. Moreover, there has never 
been much experimenting connected with the normal 
system, for its principles are founded in the laws of 
nature, and we have only to discover them as they 
exist and always have existed there. Are not the 
spontaneous processes of mental evolution, as we pass 
on from early childhood to age, regulated by the im- 
mutable laws of nature, . as well as the growth of a 
plant, or the revolutions of the planets? Give the 
child lard instead of bread and alcohol instead of milk 
and his bod}^ becomes diseased and soon dies, because 
its treatment is abnormal. So it is with the mind. If 
its treatment should be altogether abnormal those 



OF EDUCATION 7 

embr30 germs which are susceptible of infinite ex- 
pansion could never be developed. Give the child a 
mixture, half milk and half alcohol, and let its mental 
food also, be in part normal and in part abnormal 
and the result is just that condition of the human race 
that now exists about us and all over the world. It 
can scarcely be said that one person in a score makes 
a success of life. In directing the child's education 
no one can determine in every particular just what 
is the right course. But if we make use of the 
knowledge of our predecessors and our contempo- 
raries over the world, may we not make some approxi- 
mations toward a perfect scheme ? The knowledge 
possessed by those who have systematically studied 
this subject for many years is sometimes called the 
science of education, and those who apply the prin- 
ciples of that science in teaching are said to teach 
normally. It has no reference necessarily to making 
teachers ; that is only one of the results. All teaching 
is either normal or abnormal, that is, it is in harmony 
with the natural laws of mental evolution, or else it 
violates those laws. 

The study of the objects, facts and phenomena of nature is 
the normal, and therefore the most congenial employment 
of the opening mind, and one of its purest sources of pleas- 
ure. Without such study, the mind becomes vague and 
abstracted in its tendencies and habits, life lacks reality, 
character solidity, and faith a foundation. The misdirected 



8 THE NEW METHOD 

culture which commences with the study of language, thence 
proceeds to gather thoughts, and at last reaches objects only 
to hurry over and slight them leaves the mind wanting in 
the vital elements of truth. — Russell. 

The natural inquisitiveness of the child's mind, 
every one must have observed. How early he begins 
to investigate the objects about him, asking number- 
less questions. But how few of those whose work it 
is to rear and foster the j^oung mind, heed the 
promptings of nature How often is the great book 
of nature sealed to the little inquirer, and his atten- 
tion turned to objects of less interest. And how few 
there are who retain to mature years the innate 
desires for knowledge which were so apparent in 
early childhood. How many there are whose minds 
become perverted, benumbed, and degraded by mis- 
management, all desire for knowledge obliterated, all 
taste for the pleasures of a rational life utterly de- 
stroyed. Yet their young minds were fitted by their 
Creator to study his visible works and rise higher 
and higher in the scale of being, until they could 
read in the stars that nightly shine above their heads, 
in the rocks beneath their feet, and in the plants and 
flowers that deck their way, the thoughts impressed 
upon them by the Great Author of all. 

There has been much discussion upon the system adopted 
in tlie high school, of entrusting the hearing of the recita- 



OF EDUCATION 9 

tions of their own classes to female pupils, while the teacher 
sits by as an observer or engaged in reading. 

To such a puerile slur as this I consider it un- 
necessary to make any formal reply. The design of 
the writer is everywhere obvious. But he sets the 
matter right in the next sentence and nullifies his own 
objection. 

Upon careful consideration your committee regard this 
method of teaching as an advantage to the young ladies who 
act as teachers, but as injurious to all who do not. It is 
beneficial to those who least need assistance and injurious to 
those who most need it. 

Then it is clearly an advantage to every one in the 
senior class, and every one in the junior class, for all 
alike have stood before the class to conduct the exer- 
cises, one just as often as another. The recitation is 
never wholly entrusted to the pupils, but only so 
much of it as I have deemed advantageous to them. 
During that part of the recitation conducted by the 
pupils, I have endeavored to have the class feel that 
the whole responsibility rested on them. This form 
of recitation is for the purpose of inculcating self- 
possession, self-reliance, dignity, easy manners and 
thorough scholarship. The pupil questions the class 
upon the lesson without the book, that is, asks orig- 
inal questions. This makes the best possible test of 
a good lesson on the part of the questioner. It also 



lO THE NEW METHOD 

impresses upon the mind of the questioner every fact 
upon which he interrogates the class, and thus tends 
directly to make thorough scholars. Whenever the 
class fails to penetrate and develop a principle in the 
lesson, I am always present to do such work as they 
fail to do. A principle of educational science is in- 
volved in this method. It is well expressed by 
Thomas Eubank, in the following lines : 

No fact is more prominent, in the economy of the world 
than that iiiari was to have nothing — absolutely nothing — 
done for him which he could possibly do for himself. This 
was essential to the development of his character. Had it 
been otherwise, metals had been dug up in the forms of use- 
ful instruments, and articles of furniture had been the nat- 
ural fruit of trees. Vegetable fibre had grown in hanks of 
thread and in woven garments, glass and stone ware had 
been quarried, and articles of furniture had been the natural 
fruit of trees. All substances would have been found in the 
most useful form. 

To speak of a want of interest in the class when 
this method is pursued, is extreme folly, and is in 
direct opposition to the testimony of every candid ob- 
server of our recitations. I have been unable, as 
yet, to practice this method completely in the lowest 
class as that class has been the receptacle of scholars 
coming every term from schools in which they have 
had no normal training. The model classes are fully 
under way in this method, and the only part of the 
school which does not please the committee is that 



OF EDUCATION II 

very part which I have been unable to bring under 
the normal plan. 

The principal of the high school has, for years, assumed 
the right to admit into and exclude from the high school 
such scholars as he chose, and rather than bring on a con- 
flict with him, such as is now agitating the district, commit- 
tees have abdicated their legal duties. 

I have alwaj's understood perfectly the duty of the 
committee in regard to transferring scholars from one 
school to another, and have never assumed the right 
to admit into or exclude from the high school any 
scholar and never have transferred a scholar without 
the direction or consent of the committee. The com- 
mittee have sometimes desired me to do it, but I 
have refused to take the responsibility. 

Your committee then sent to him, a request in writing, to 
admit those five scholars. He admitted four of the five and 
one other whom he was not directed to admit, but excluded 
one of the five — ^James Hanrihan — whom your committee 
deemed particularly worthy of admission. Upon applica- 
tion to him to state the reason why Hanrihan was not ad- 
mitted, he said he had no seat for him. 

In this paragraph, and all that follows to the end 
of the committee's report, nearly every sentence is full 
of error. It is strange that a man can warp the truth 
so constantly. I will insert verbatim the first order 
from the committee. 



12 THE NKW METHOD 

Milford, N. H., Sept. 4th, 1866. 

William L. Whittemore, Esq^.— Dear Sir : Please admit 
to the high school the following scholars from the grammar 
or intermediate school the present term : James Hanrihan, 
Arthur Towns, William French, Bell Mills, Kate Mills, 
William Tarbell. 

Signed, B. Wadleigh, S. Smith Stickney, 

W. H. W. Hinds, T. Kaley. 

I had at that time about one hundred scholars, 
which is considered in most other places as many as 
can be properly taught by three or four teachers. 
The high school was larger than it had ever been be- 
fore, while the grammar school was not nearly as 
large as it had sometimes been, and it was well class- 
ified. If scholars were promoted a new class must 
be formed, which would make it exceedingly incon- 
venient to carry on the work in the high school. 
Moreover, there were at that time only four unoccu- 
pied seats in the high school, one on the girls' side 
and three on the boys' side of the room ; so I con- 
cluded to do the best I could under the circum- 
stances, and accordingly admitted the three oldest 
boys and the older of the two girls, but the girl de- 
clined coming in as her sister could not come with 
her. There was plainly no seat for the youngest boy 
unless I put him with the girls. The talk of his be- 
ing refused admission because he was an Irish boy is 
a malicious falsehood. I never thought of such a 



OF EDUCATION 13 

thing. I had previously inquired of the chairman 
what I should do when the seats were all taken. He 
said " close the doors of course "; and I simply carried 
out the order. I could not see why a class in the 
grammar school should be divided and the poorest 
scholars sent to the high school and put to work in 
higher books, while the best ones were retained in 
the grammar school and put into lower books. But 
that is just what was done, and I have the means of 
proof. When, as a citizen, interested in the rights 
of the scholars in both schools, I raised a question or 
two about it, I was told that I had " nothing to do 
about it ;" that I was " paid for my services, " and I 
"need not be so conscientious ab'out it." They 
took it for granted that I was a hireling. I have never 
acknowledged myself a hireling in educational mat- 
ters, although the attempt has often been made to 
compel me to act like one, and to give up all sense of 
right, in order to please A, B, and C. Here is where 
the difficulty all comes in. The three or four men 
who have been so busy during the past few weeks, 
never tell their real objection, but go about with 
falsehood on their lips, telling what "they say." 
These men have acted the part of ' ' coward calumny ' ' 
that always " stabs in the dark. " The only man who 
has had the fairness to state his grievance publicly, 
for the last ten years, is Mr. Xenophon Mills. He 



14 THE NKW METHOD 

acted the part of a gentleman and I honor him for the 
manly act. 

For the reason that the public money can be used 
to publish only falsehood "for the use of the dis- 
trict, " and also because I do not wish to put in 'print 
any more records of the proceedings of the last few 
months than is really necessary, I suspend publish- 
ing, for the present at least, several pages of manu- 
script relating to the disgraceful proceedings of last 
September. I will simply say that I did protest 
earnestly, as a teacher and a citizen, against a course 
which so completely ignored the sacred rights of 
others. I did not refuse to comply with any legal 
order of the committee, until I was ready to resign 
the charge of the school. The chairman, through 
that whole disgraceful affair, seemed to have only 
one idea in his mind, and was willing to sacrifice the 
rights of a hundred families in order to please a woman 
who comes with unreasonable demands, accompanied 
with a threat. I was reminded through the whole 
affair of a man who lived some centuries ago, named 
Herod.* 

He was asked to admit but five and admitted five with- 
out claiming any increase of wages. He refused to admit one 
who had been transferred and did admit one who had not 
been transferred. 

*See Matt. 14: i — 12. 



OF EDUCATION 1 5 

I will correct the error in these two sentences. I 
was ordered, as I have shown above, to admit six. 
I did not admit one without claiming an increase of 
wages. I refused to admit two of the six because 
there were no seats for them, and thereby followed 
the direction of the chairman. I did not admit one 
who had not been transferred, as may be seen by the 
committee's first order. 

I agreed with the prudential committee at the be- 
ginning of the year to teach one year on conditions, 
and the promotion of scholars from the grammar 
schools nullified the contract. I was twice re-engaged 
and at an increase of salary each time. - 

This is a sample of the whole report, and I now 
assert, openly and definitely, that the whole document 
is pregnant with falsehood. And malicious as that 
falsehood appears, it is very mild when compared with 
that which a few other men have carried about the 
district during the past winter, whispering it in the 
ear of every man who was not acquainted with the 
facts. Many of these men, not knowing the facts of 
course, were made to believe what they heard re- 
peated so often. I do not censure them ; they were 
as ready to believe the truth as falsehood, if it were 
only told them. Such infamy should have stamped 
upon it "the indelible stigma of the public abhor- 
rence." This falsehood called out nearly a hundred 



l6 THE NEW METHOD 

men to break up a school which has cost the earnest 
effort of one man, at least, for twelve years. 

In regard to the members of the board whose 
names are found on Mr. Wadleigh's report, I would 
say that I feel somewhat inclined to make apology 
for them. I think they really meant no harm. 
I suspect they didn't know much about school mat- 
ters ; that they did not take the trouble to investigate 
the merits of the document to which they subscribed, 
any more than they have the merits of the school 
since the citizens of the district honored them by 
making them supervisors of the highest interests of 
their children. lyCt us see how the case stands. 
Three of these men have seen nothing, as it were, of 
the school for the past two years. Another some- 
times come examination day. The chairman has been 
in school often enough, but he always comes when a 
certain class of young ladies is about to recite. He 
has never seen one half of our classes, and probably 
has not seen a dozen different schools for a quarter of 
a century. The fact is these gentlemen, in educa- 
tional matters, are forty years behind the times. 
They have not yet discovered that there is anything 
to be known in school polity, beyond what any one 
may know intuitively. They recommend a method 
of teaching which was exploded among all intelligent 
educators thirty years ago. 



OF EDUCATION 1 7 

Dr. Hinds has seen more of the high school than 
any other member of the board, and has evidently 
comprehended the " situation." 

Before closing I wish to express my thanks to a 
very few of my indulgent neighbors for the great 
kindness they showed me in allowing me to say a few 
words at the annual meeting. I thank them partic- 
ularly, because they did not interrupt me any oftener. 
That act of courtesy and consideration saved me, at 
least, ten dollars that I otherwise must have paid for 
printing those facts, which some men were evidently 
afraid to hear. ' 

W. h. WHITTEMORE. 

Milford, March 30, 1867. 



SECTION II 

To comprehend the laws of nature is the grand 
object of intellectual culture. The fatal error in the 
educational schemes of all ages has been the futile 
attempt to ornament the mind without informing it. 
Hence the world has but just discovered even the 
existence of those laws, whose daily violation for 
ages past has rendered a world of surpassing beauty 
and perfection a great sepulchre for the premature 
dead, and an abode of suffering for millions who 
linger through maturer years. Of all systems of 
education that is the best which furnishes the most 
perfect guidance to complete living. A right mode 
of teaching contravenes none of nature's tendencies ; 
but it excites the activity of the mind in accordance 
with the laws which control its spontaneous develop- 
ment, and thus co-operates with nature in her plan of 
unfolding the faculties. There can be no success when 
we contravene nature's laws, whether we deal with 
tangible objects or with human minds. Overlook her 
laws in inanimate material, and the awful wreck of 
life and property in the downfall of the Pemberton 
Mills is an example of the penalty. Ignore her 



20 THE NEW METHOD 

laws in the human body or mind, and who can 
calculate the inevitable result, as it widens down the 
ages ? Ignorance of the laws of life confers no 
exemption from the failure and suffering conse- 
quent upon their violation. Nature's inexorable and 
unpitying penalties are meant to coerce us to the 
study of her works, when their exceeding beauty 
fails to allure our attention. 

That system which requires the thorough study of 
the science of education, and seeks to determine what 
each step in the educational process ought to be, by 
a knowledge of the laws of human nature, is called 
the normal system. Founded upon biological and 
psychological science, educational philosophy is, and 
must be, progressive in its development. Normal 
schools which have thus far been established, differ 
so widely in their general plan that they may be 
best considered under three grades. First, normal 
schools with no model classes. Second, normal 
schools with transient model classes for the purpose 
of illustrating the true mode of teaching. Third, 
normal schools with permanent model classes, trained, 
or to be trained normally, through their whole scho- 
lastic course. 

The first and second grades include the state nor- 
mal schools. The true function of these schools is 
to make the establishment of still better normal 



» OF EDUCATION 21 

schools a possibility. They may be considered pion- 
eers in the great educational reform which is slowly 
taking place. Our own state should lose no time in 
establishing one good normal school. The fact that 
this has not yet been done shows that our people 
need to be aroused if not enlightened on the demands 
of education. But state normal schools can never 
furnish the thousands of rural districts all over our 
land with their graduates. These schools will be 
taught generall}^ by young persons who will enter 
the profes.sion for only a few years. Moreover, the 
course of training at the state normal schools is in- 
sufficient to confer anything like a clear understand- 
ing of educational science upon scholars who have 
been trained in the ordinary way till the age of eigh- 
teen or twenty years, before entering upon the 
normal course. 

The third great step in the development of normal 
schools is the founding of an order of institutions 
which shall train the child, in accordance with na- 
ture's laws, from the day he enters school till he 
graduates. In villages of less than ten thousand in- 
habitants our schools, everywhere, are in a deplorable 
condition, and will remain so until their whole plan is 
changed. The design of the village normal school is 
to furnish such places with the means of a thorough 
and rational culture instead of the jargon of the pres- 



22 THE NEW METHOD 

ent time. To reconstruct our village schools will 
require a ver}^ long time, for teachers to do it are yet 
to be educated. 

Having had a little experience in the first and sec- 
ond grades of normal schools, and subsequently hav- 
ing pursued, for years, the inductive study of educa- 
tional philosophy, under a well organized plan, it has 
devolved upon me to present, if I can, a model of the 
village normal high school. 

Even while the system is but partially introduced, 
our graduates are successful competitors with the 
graduates of the best normal schools of New Eng- 
land. Of the ten who have already completed the 
course, two are teaching in Boston, two in the annual 
schools of Milford, and three have taught in Amherst 
during the past year. 

From the dawn of civilization to the present day, 
the most beneficent schemes for human advance- 
ment have been scowled upon with malignant hat- 
red ; but the obsolete absurdities of former ages must 
soon be abandoned. The progressive evolution of 
our race goes on by nature's command, and her 
commands are never nullified. 

In the prevailing schemes of education, the time 
of teachers and scholars is given mostly to the lingual 
and mathematical studies, while that transcendent 
order of truth which alone can illuminate our way in 



OK RDUCATION 23 

the world, is practically ignored ; and the recipients 
of our boasted education must grope their way in 
darkness, sttimbling at every step in a world of light 
and order, because they are unable to read the lan- 
guage of the Infinite, which he has written in living 
characters upon every object and every phenomenon 
around us. 

Language and mathematics are very useful 
branches, but are to be studied as a means and not 
an end. They are indispensable at every step in the 
educational process, as a means of discovering and 
expressing real knowledge and when put to their 
legitimate uses, they will be learned most effectually, 
by using them. The normal method confers by far 
the best mental discipline, as well as the most avail- 
able culture in language and mathematics. To these 
it adds a thorough and practical knowledge of the 
sciences of nature ; and all for half the cost of ordin- 
ary education. The reason is obvious, — science 
directs in one case, and the dictates of tradition and 
empiricism in the other. Jackson's battle at New 
Orleans had not been heard of in all the States, thirty 
days after it was fought. To-day thirty minutes 
would almost suffice to send the intelligence over the 
civilized world. A single application of science has 
wrought the marvellous change ! And can science 
do nothing for education ? Are not the human mind 



24 THE NEW METHOD 

and body a part of nature's dominion, and subject to 
her laws ? 

Nature's ways are everywhere models of economy. 
By one simple means she accomplishes a thousand 
grand results. She lights and warms, irrigates and 
animates, and holds in never-ending cycles a hundred 
worlds by one central fire. 

The normal course of scholastic education, begins 
in the systematic training of the child, into habits of 
careful and minute observation. While curiosity is 
awake, the child is led to appeal directly to nature 
for information, and by observing personally, her 
objects, facts and phenomena, there is awakened 
within him, such a love of knowledge, as the prevail- 
ing methods of teaching can never inspire. Begin- 
ning in the concrete and simple, with familiar objects, 
drawn from a single science or department of nature, 
we proceed by gradual steps toward the complex and 
abstract, and to objects more remote and varied. 
Losing no time for mere mental discipline, the 
scholar gains the highest possible discipline, in the 
acquisition of the most useful knowledge. 

But it is not my design to try to show what the 
normal system is in these few sentences. Hundreds 
of pages would be required to convey anything like 
a clear idea of all its processes. Let it suffice, for 
the present, to say that its principles have been ad- 



OF EDUCATION 25 

vocated bj^ the leading educators of all countries. 
Among the foremost we find Comenius, Pestalozzi, 
Neiderer, Krusi, Fellenberg, Zeller, Diesterweg, 
Cousin, Jullien, Tyndall, Henfry, Agassiz, Russell, 
Sheldon, Calkins, and all other educators as far as I 
am acquainted, who have devoted even a few years, 
to the inductive study of educational science. 

" The predominant culture of modern times had its 
origin, more than eight hundred years ago, in a 
superstition of the middle ages. . . . This scheme 
has been handed down from age to age, and with but 
slight changes, still predominates in the higher insti- 
tutions of learning, and still powerfullj' reacts upon 
the inferior schools. . . . 

" The ancient philosophers held that it was as de- 
grading to seek useful knowledge as to practice use- 
ful arts; hence, subjects of study were chosen as 
intellectual gymnastics. Under these circumstances 
no vulgar question of economy could arise; mental 
power was ostentatiously wasted, and with the neces- 
sary consequences — truth unsought was not found; 
the ends of culture being ignored, there was neither 
conquest of nature nor progress of society. . . . 

" In childhood there is a vast capability of accum- 
ulating simple facts. Skilful guidance at this period 
is of the very highest importance. When curiosity 
is freshest, and the perceptions keenest, and memory 
most impressible, before the maturity of the reflective 
powers, the opening mind should be led to the art of 
noticing the aspects, properties, and simple relations 



26 THE NEW METHOD 

of the surrounding objects of nature. This should 
be guided into a growing habit, and the young pupil 
gradually trained to know how to observe, and what 
to observe among all the objects of its unfolding ex- 
perience. It should be encouraged to collect many 
of the little curiosities which awaken its attention, and 
required carefully to preserve them ; but to do all this 
judiciously is delicate work. The custodian of the 
child must know something of the objects of nature, 
and much of the nature of the young pupil. Above 
all things, teachers qualified to do this work are the 
desperate need of the age. To perfect the object- 
method, and train instructors to its discriminating 
use, is one of the great functions of normal schools, 
and must become the practical basis of a rational sys- 
tem of education. Let it be remembered that there 
is nothing forced or artificial here ; the scenes of 
childish pleasure and exuberant activity furnish the 
objects of thought. In creating an interest in these 
things a bent is given in the true direction ; the valu- 
able habit of observing and seeking is formed while 
the numberless discontiected shreds of knowledge are 
incipient acquisitions, which will grow with time into 
the ripened forms of science. . . , 

" When nature becomes the subject of study, the 
love of nature its stimulus, and the order of nature 
its guide, then will results in education rival the 
achievements of science in the fields of its noblest 
triumphs. Man's first and his life-long concern is 
with his environment, the objective universe of God. 
It is a realm of law, and therefore he can understand 



OF EDUCATION 27 

and control it : a scene of irresistible forces which 
crush him if he is ignorant, and serve him if he is 
wise. . . . 

' ' The overshadowing error of the present educa- 
tion, is the propensity to accept words in place of the 
ideas and things for which they stand, and from 
which they borrow all their value. Words are the 
vehicles of thought ; so much of the study of language, 
and in such forms as are necessary to its intelligent 
use is demanded in education. But the lingual stu- 
dent, captivated by the interest of word studies, loses 
the end in the means. A plough was sent to a bar- 
barian tribe : they hung it over with ornaments, and 
fell dowai and worshipped it. In much the same 
manner is language treated in education. . . . 

" So long as little was known of the order of the 
universe, little could be understood of him in whom 
that order culminates. And here I call attention to 
the deep defects of that predominant scheme of cul- 
ture which not only ignores the human brain, and the 
sciences which illustrate it, as objects of earnest sys- 
tematic study, but explodes upon it all the traditional 
contempt which it cherishes for material nature. 
Men admire the steam-engine of Watt and the calcu- 
lating engine of Babbage, but how little do they care 
for the thinking engine of the Infinite Artificer ! 
They venerate days, and dogmas, and ceremonials ; 
but where is the reverence that is due to the most 
sacred of the things of time, the organism of the 
soul ! . . . 

" A knowledge of the being to be trained, as it is 



28 THE NEW METHOD 

the basis of all intelligent culture, must be the first 
necessity of the teacher. Education is an art, which 
may be pursued empirically or rationally, as a blind 
habit, or under intelligent guidance ; and the rela- 
tions of science to it are precisely the same as to all 
the other arts — to ascertain their conditions, and give 
law to their processes. What it has done for naviga- 
tion, telegraphy, and war, it will also do for culture. 
The true method of proceeding may be regarded as 
established, and many important* results are already 
reached, though its systematic application is hardly 
entered upon. 

" Our teachers mostly belong to the old dispensa- 
tion. Their preparation is chiefly literary ; if they 
obtain a little scientific knowledge, it is for the pur- 
pose of communicating it, and not as a means of 
tutorial guidance. Their art is a mechanical routine, 
and hence, very naturally, while admitting the im- 
portance of advancing views, they really cannot see 
what is to be done about it. When we say that edu- 
tion is an affair of the laws of our being, involving a 
wide range of considerations, that it involves that 
complete acquaintance with corporeal conditions 
which science alone can give, we seem to be talking 
in an unknown tongue, or if intelligible, then very 
irrelevant and unpractical. The imminent question 
is, how may the child and youth be developed health- 
fully and vigorously, bodily, mentally, morally ; and 
science can alone answer it by a statement of the laws 
upon which that development depends. Ignorance of 
these laws must inevitably involve mismanagement." 
— Prof. E. L. Yoii))ians. 



OF EDUCATION 29 

"No human pursuits make any material progress 
until science is brought to bear upon them. We 
have seen, accordingly, many of them slumber for 
centuries upon centuries ; but, from the moment that 
science has touched them with her magic wand, they 
have sprung forward, and taken strides which amaze 
and almost awe the beholder." 
— His Royal Highness, Prince Albert. 

"Modern civilization rests upon physical science; 
take away her gifts to our country, and our position 
among the leading nations of the world is gone to- 
morrow ; for it is physical science only, that makes 
intelligence and moral energy stronger than brute 
force. ... I believe that the greatest intellectual 
revolution mankind has yet seen is now slowly taking 
place by her agency. She is teaching the world that 
the ultimate court of appeal is observation and ex- 
periment, and not authority ; she is teaching it to esti- 
mate the value of evidence ; she is creating a firm 
and living faith in the existence of immutable moral 
and physical laws, perfect obedience to which is the 
highest possible aim of an intelligent being. 

"But of all this your old stereotyped system of 
education takes no note. Physical science, its meth- 
ods, its problems, and its difficulties, will meet the 
poorest boy at every turn, and yet we educate him in 
such a manner that he shall enter the world as ignor- 
ant of the existence of the methods and facts of 
science as the day he was born. The modern world 
is full of artillery ; and we turn out our children to do 
battle in it, equipped with the shield and sword of an 



30 THE NEW METHOD 

ancient gladiator. Posterity will cry shame on us if 
we do not remedy this deplorable state of things. 
Na5^ if we live twenty years longer, our own con- 
sciences will cry shame on us. 

"It is my firm conviction that the only way to 
remedy it is to make the elements of physical science 
an integral part of primary education. But let me 
entreat you to remember my last words. Addressing 
myself to you, as teachers, I would say, mere book 
learning in physical science is a sham and a delusion 
— what you teach, unless you wish to be imposters, 
that you must first know ; and real knowledge in 
science means personal acquaintance with the facts, 
be they few or many." 
— Thomas H. Hiixley^ F.R.S., LL.D. 

" Herein at present lies the main difficulty concern- 
ing the introduction of the science of observation into 
courses of ordinary education — a grade of teachers 
who should be able and willing to carry science into 
schools for youth has hardly yet appeared. Hitherto 
there have been few opportunities for their normal 
instruction." — Professor Edward Forbes. 

" Normal schools for the preparation of teachers 
must necessarily be an essential part of any well- 
ordered public school system. The rule under which 
they should not only be taught, but likewise subse- 
quently teach — the rule that should be made to apply 
in every establishment, from the primary school to 
the university, is this — education should represent 
the existing state of knowledge. 

"But in America this golden rule is disregarded, 



OF EDUCATION 31 

especially in the case of the higher establishments. 
What is termed classical learning arrogates to itself a 
space that excludes much more important things. It 
finds means to appropriate, practically, all collegiate 
honors. This evil has arisen from the circumstance 
that our system was imported from England. It is a 
remnant of the tone of thought of that country in the 
sixteenth century ; meritorious enough and justifi- 
able enough in that day, but obsolete in this. The 
vague impression that such pursuits impart a train- 
ing to the mind has long sustained this inappropriate 
course. It also finds an excuse in its alleged power 
of communicating the wisdom of past ages. The 
grand depositories of human knowledge are not the 
ancient, but the modern tongues. Few, if any, are 
the facts worth knowing that are to be exclusively 
obtained b}' a knowledge of Latin and Greek ; and 
as to mental discipline, it might reasonably be in- 
quired how much a youth will secure by translating 
daily a few good sentences of Latin and Greek into 
bad and broken English. So far as a preparation is 
required for the subsequent struggles and conflicts of 
life, an ingenious man would have no difl&culty in 
maintaining the amusing affirmation that more might 
be gained from a mastery of the game of chess than by 
translating all the Greek and Latin authors in the 
world." — Professor J. IV. Draper, of the University of 
New York. 

" Our whole system of instruction requires an hon- 
est, thorough, and candid revision. It has been for 
centuries the child of authority and precedent. If 



32 THE NEW METHOD 

those before us made it what it is, by applying to it 
the resources of earnest and fearless thought, I can 
see no reason why we, by pursuing the same course, 
might not improve it. God intended us for progress, 
and we counteract his design when we deify anti- 
quity, and bow down and worship an opinion, not 
because it is either wise or true, but merely because 
it is ancient." — Francis Waj'/a?id, D.D., late Pr-esi- 
dent of Brown Un iversity . 

" We hear a great deal said of the intellectual treas- 
ures locked up in the languages of Greece and Rome, 
which it is asserted that our system of education 
throws open to the student freely to enjoy. And yet 
we know that practically this claim is without found- 
ation. . . . For a period varying from seven to ten 
years, we keep young men under a course of instruc- 
tion in Latin and Greek, and at the end of that time, 
they are unable, in any proper sense, to read either 
the one or the other. . . . 

" We display a singular disregard of the plain in- 
dications of nature, who herself points out the order 
in which the faculties should be drawn out into action. 
. . . And I suppose that the reason why we should 
follow nature is because nature will thus most will- 
ingly follow us. The tasks we impose will be pleas- 
ing because they will be adapted to the strength. 
The learner will easily submit himself to our guid- 
ance, because we take him in the direction in which 
he is already inclined to go. . . . We have inverted 
the natural order just as completely as possible. And 
this inversion of the order of nature, carries with it 



OF EDUCATION 33 

the unfortunate consequences that no satisfactory 
knowledge is acquired at last." — F. A. P. Barnard, 
LL.D., President of Colutnbia College. 

" If there needs any further evidence of the rude, 
undeveloped character of our education, we have it 
in the fact that the comparative worths of different 
kinds of knowledge have been as yet scarcely even 
discussed — much less discussed in a methodic way 
with definite results. . . . 

" We conclude, then, that for discipline, as well as 
for guidance, science is of chiefest value. In all its 
effects, learning the meanings of things, is better 
than learning the meanings of words. Whether for 
intellectual, moral, or religious training, the study of 
surrounding phenomena is immensely superior to the 
study of grammars and lexicons. Necessary and 
eternal as are its truths, all science concerns all man- 
kind for all time. Equally at present, and in the 
remotest future, must it be of incalculable importance 
for the regulation of their conduct, that men should 
understand the science of life, physical, mental, and 
social ; and that they should understand all other 
science as a key to the science of life. And yet the 
knowledge which is of such transcendent value is that 
which, in our age of boasted education, receives the 
least attention. 

' ' Passing on to object-lessons, which manifestly 
form a natural continuation of this primary culture 
of the senses, it is to be remarked, that the system 
commonly pursued is wholly at variance with the 
method of nature. To tell a child this and to show 



34 THE NEW METHOD 

it the other, is not to teach it how to observe, but to 
make it a mere recipient of another's observations ; a 
proceeding which weakens rather than strengthens 
its powers of self-instruction. . . . 

" Object-lessons should not only be carried on after 
({uite a different fashion from that commonly pur- 
sued, but should be extended to a range of things 
far wider, and continue to a period far later, than 
now. They should not be limited to the contents of 
the house ; but should include those of the fields and 
the hedges, the quarrj' and the sea-shore. The}^ 
should not cease with early childhood ; but should 
be so kept up during youth as insensibly to merge 
into the investigations of the naturalist and the man 
of science. Here again we have but to follow nature's 
leadings. Where can be seen anintenser delight than 
that of children picking up new flowers and watch- 
ing new insects, or hoarding pebbles and shells ? 
And who is there but perceives that by sympathizing 
with them they may be led on to any extent of in- 
(juiry into the qualities and structure of these things ? 
Kvery botanist who has had children with him in the 
woods and the lanes must have noticed how eagerl}' 
they joined in his pursuits, how keenly they searched 
out plants for him, how intently they watched whilst 
he examined them, how they overwhelmed him with 
questions. . . . 

" It will by and by be found that a knowledge of 
the laws of life is more important than any other 
knowledge whatever — that the laws of life include 
not only all bodily and mental processes, but by im- 



OF EDUCATION 35 

plication all the transactions of the house and street, 
all commerce, all politics, all morals— and that there- 
fore without a due acquaintance with them neither 
personal nor social conduct can be rightly regulated. 
It will eventually be seen too, that the laws of life are 
essentiall}' the same throughout the whole organic 
creation ; and further, that they cannot be properly 
understood in their complex manifestations until they 
have been studied in their simpler ones. And when 
this is seen, it will be also seen that in aiding the 
child to acquire the out-of-door information for which 
it shows so great an avidity, and in encouraging the 
acquisition of such information throughout youth, we 
are simply inducing it to store up the raw material 
for future organization— the facts that will one day 
bring home to it with due force these great generali- 
zations of science by which actions may be rightly 
guided." — Herbert Spencer. 

" Infant and primary education I reckon the high- 
est and most difficult of educational problems. . . . 
True education is an imitation, not a thwarting of 
nature. To be successful we must watch and learn 
how the Divine Goodness teaches the little Adam just 
entered upon his glorious heritage, we must conform 
to that method if we would be successful. And we 
find that God, in the infant's education, is no tyrant 
exacting of each his portion of loathed labor, but that 
he educates the expanding mind by freedom, joy and 
beauty, through nature training eye, and ear, and 
every sense, by every novelty of form, and sound, 
and color ; and that we must help and not hinder 



36 THE NEW METHOD 

this natural education, by guiding, and controlling, 
and using the same materials. 

" There is an intense and most easily awakened 
curiosity in children, respecting the phenomena of 
the outward world. — Every bird, beast and insect is 
a marvel ; the clouds, the moon, the stars, the beau- 
tiful forms and colors of flowers, the very stones under 
their feet, all, to the mind of childhood are objects of 
study, objects of wonder. But after a few years of 
ordinary school-teaching, all this is found to have dis- 
appeared, and too often no other curiosity, no other 
interest, or worse still, some bad one, has arisen to 
take its place, I think I am not too strong in my state- 
ment ; but what a satire is this on what we call edu- 
cation ! Or is the process of teaching first to kill as 
a preliminary to artificially restoring them ? Alas ! 
in too many cases they are never restored, and our 
education consists only in a mental maiming. . . . 

' ' So entangled are our notions of education with 
books and the art of reading — in reality only one of 
the tools of education — that we too often virtually 
use the tool, not to build, but to destroy our educa- 
tion. . . . The substitution of true object-teaching 
for an excess of book-learning in elementary educa- 
tion seems to me the first step in a return to truth 
and nature. 

" Do you want to destroy a child's interest in a 
subject ? Compel him to learn lessons out of a dry 
treatise upon it. Do j^ou want to kindle his interest 
into enthusiasm ? Give him oral lessons upon it — 
always provided you know how — which is, I grant, a 



OF EDUCATION 37 

great assumption, because nothing is more difficult. 
For, first, you must know the subject. Now, if one 
would know how ignorant he is of a subject he thought 
he understood, let him. try to give a child an expla- 
nation of it. One may lecture to grown persons, and 
succeed in concealing his ignorance from himself as 
well as his hearers ; he cannot do so from a child. 
He will have nothing but real knowledge, and you 
cannot give it to him in any shape in which he can 
comprehend it without possessing it yourself. . . . 

" Here is where, I confess, I think our teachers 
are too apt to come short of what oiight to be required 
of them. I speak from personal experience as a 
teacher. Having learned from books themselves, 
they know only how to teach from books, unless, by 
putting themselves to school over again, they learn a 
better method. 

" Shall I be thought very extravagant, if I say, so 
impressed am I with the necessity of a better selec- 
tion of studies and better methods of teaching, that I 
am almost ready to affirm that the common school of 
America, as I believe it will exist in the future, is an 
institution yet to be created ? . . . The common school 
is an institution not intended first and foremost to pre- ■ 
pare a minority of pupils for higher seminaries of 
learning, and then devote what time can be spared to 
those whose education is to end with it. The district 
school should be, and can be, the people's college, 
though great changes must be made in it before it 
can become so. 

"Life is education. Shall we send them fropi 



38 THE NEW METHOD 

school wanting the very rudiments of life-education ? 
Above all, shall we leave them ignorant of the func- 
tions of the very bodies their spirits dwell in, and 
thus a pre}', themselves, and their children, to all dis- 
asters which ignorance of the laws of life brings with 
it ? I say that schools that neglect all this, are not 
good schools, and we cannot complain of the tax- 
payer grudging his money, when he finds his child- 
ren learn so little that is useful." — Pjvfessor W. P. 
Atkinso7i. 

W. L. WHITTEMORE. 
March, 1869. 



SECTION III. 



Normal High School, 1870 



CATALOGUE 



CIRCULAR 



Normal High School 

MILFORD, N. H. 



I 867-70 



/-/ 



MILFORD, N. H. 

PRINTED BY J. M. BLANCHARD 



42 



TEACHERS 



Mr. WM. L. WHITTEMORE, Principal 



TEACHERS OF MODEL CLASSES 

Miss AMY LIZZIE SAWYER 
Miss ANNA F. HUTCHINvSON 
Miss CARRIE A. DAVIS 
Miss MABEL WEST 
Miss ADDIE M. LAKIN 

Miss lizzie E. blood 

Miss ELLA M. HUTCHINSON 
Miss HELEN I. LANE 
Miss ALICE J. HOOD 
Miss LEVADE J. JOHNSON 
Miss ANNAH E. ADAMS 
Miss CLARA B. GUTTERSON 



SCHOLAR ASSISTANTS 

Mr, FRANK W. RICHARDSON 
Mr. EMRI C. HUTCHINSON 
Mr. CHARLES R. HOWARD 
Mr. frank G. DICKEY 



PUPILS 



43 



SENIOR CLASS 



Addik M. Lakin 
Mahki. Wkst 
Carrie A. Davis 
Anna F. Hutchinson 
Amy L. Sawyer 
Lizzie E. Bi.ood 
Annah E. Adams 
Clemmie E. Averili- 
Helen I. Lane 
Fannie E. Lane 
Luella C. Hutchinson 
Clara B. Gutterson 
I'"LORENCE M. Lane 
Emma A. Perkins 
Emma Bennett 
Arbv p. ParmELEE 
E1.1.A M. Hutchinson 
Levade J. Johnson 
Clara E. Crosby 
Eu.A M. Turner 



f;lla M. Marcv 
Fannie A. Bullard 
Frank W. Richardson 
Charles R. Howard 
f;mri C. PIutchinson 
Luke A. Farley 
Frank W. Lovejoy 
Edward G, Clark 
Edward G. Came 
Harry C. Lynch 
Frank G. Dickey 
GusTAVE G. Fletcher 
George E. Farley 
Herbert L. Peabody 
Allen a. Bennett' 
Edward T. Adams 
George P. Lynch 
Walter D. Hutchinson 
Charles Needham 
John Peacock 



44 



JUNIOR CLASS 



Hattie E. Farley 
Josephine E. Snow 
Emma F. Wallingford 
Lucy J. Putnam 
Lydia M. Darracott 
Anna F. Bennett 
Georgianna Nutting 
Jennie N. Ci^ark 
Dora E. Chickering 
Augusta J. Draper 
Delia C. Hutchinson 
Abbie Robb 
Ella S. Burnham 
Susie E. Willoughby 
Charlotte Gibson 
Nellie E. Danforth 
Cora J. Lynch 
Augusta C. Mixer 
Hannah Dempsey 
Florence H. Lund 



Oldis a. Barrett 
William Peacock 
William A. Tarbell 

ElmON J. GUTTERSON 

Edward S. Kimball 
Newell J. Sawyer 
LeRoy S. Kimball 
Fred W. Farnsworth 
Aloft Johnson 
Wendell P. Tarbell 
Fred S. Hutchinson 
Charles G. Hutchinson 
George F. Burns 
Levi W. Perkins 
Samuel Spalding 
Edward S. Howard 
George E. Sheldon 
Lauren M. Follansbee 
Charles W. Miller 
Charles E. Wilkins 



ELEMENTARY CLASS 



45 



Hattik p. Mixer 
Nellie C. Turner 
INIary J. Richards 
Eunice Bacon 
Eli.a a. Dewitt 
Ella Willoughbv 
Eunice Huntress 
Ella M. Brown 
Fannie Percival 
Carrie Dean 
Anna Shanessv 
Minnie Barrett 
Eunice Robinson 



Charles E. Crosby 
William Wadleigh 
•Richard BlRxNS 
Walter M. Lynch 
Charles I. Wilkins 
Philip H. Osgood 
Timothy Cro\vhan 
George Shanessy 
Henry W. Bro\vn 
Horace Dean 
Charles French 
John Barrey 
John Gourley 



46 

FIRST MODEL CLASS 

ClaraJ. Towne Florence S. Coburn 

Kate A. Dickey Emuia S. Powers 

SECOND MODEL CLASS 

Nellie E. Hutchinsou James Melzer 

Belle B. Hutchinson George Bass 

Belle Kuowlton Aura Bowen 

THIRD MODEL CLASS 

Frank Wilkins Hattie Woods 

Fred Wilkins Fred Holmes 

Willie Trow George Trow 

Willie Guild Walter Mills 

Eddie Duucklee Clinton Masseck 

FOURTH MODEL CLASS 

Charles Johnson Grace Coburn 

Freddie Howard Fred Wetherbee 

Estella Woodliridge Arthur Wallingford 

Philena Woodbridge Charles Trow 

Hattie Hall Frank Dean 

Etta French Walter Dean 

Anna Steele George Johnson 

Samuel French Maggie Barrey 

Charles Mackay David Barre)' 

Etta May Julian Tarbell 



47 

SUMMARY 

Nuinber of Pupils ...---.- 146 

" Girls 73 

" Boys 73 

" ill vSenior Class ..---- 40 

" " Junior Class - 40 

" " Elementary Class . . - - . 26 

" " ^lodel Classes ------ 40 

" " Common Branches . - . - - 140 

" " Algebra -------- 36 

" " Geometry 34 

" " Trigonometrj' - 11 

" " Book-Keeping .--..- 10 

" " Natural Philosophy . . - - - 40 

" " Botany -.--.-. 64 
" " Geology --------47 

" " Chemistry 41 

" " Physical Geography ----- 36 

" " Physiology ------- 32 

" " Astronomy - 32 

" " Zoolog}' ------- 40 

" " History 44 

" Rhetoric 18 

" " Greek - - - 18 

" Latin 18 

" " Prench - - I5 

" " Mental Philosophy 12 

" " Political Kcononiy ----- 12 

" " Logic 10 



48 



GRADUATES 



CLASS OF 1865 

FRANCES S. PERRY 
HELEN I. LANE 
CHARLOTTE S. ROBBINS 
•^ANTOINETTE A. PILLSBURY 

CLASS OF 1867 

FANNIE E. LANE 
ALICE J. HOOD 
JOSEPHINE E. BRUCE 
ISADORE J. RICHARDSON 

CLASS OF 1869 

LUF:LLA C. HUTCHINSON 
FLORA J. CUTTf;r 
ANNAH E. ADAMS 

CLASS OF 1870 

CARRIE A. DAVIS 
AMY LIZZIE SAWYER 
ANNA F. HUTCHINSON 
MABEL WEST 
ADDIE M. LAKIN 
LIZZIE E. BLOOD 
FRANK W. RICHARDSON 
F:MRI C. HUTCHINSON 
CHARLES R. HOWARD 



*Deceased 



CIRCULAR 

What shall we teach ? And how shall we teach ? 
These are the great educational questions of the 
present century; but during the last few years much 
progress has been made towards a philosophic and 
satisfactory answer. The main question to-day 
seems to be a question of method ; for if the innate 
energies and activities of the child can be rightly di- 
rected, not only all the sciences which constitute the 
real knowledge of the nineteenth century may be well 
learned, but much may be accomplished in our com- 
mon schools in such arts as may have the most direct 
bearing upon human welfare. 

It has been said and often repeated that "there is 
no royal road to learning." But is it possible that a 
scheme of culture, empirically adopted in the dark 
ages, is never to be superseded b}^ a better one ? 
Human devices are not born perfect ; but they tend 
towards perfection by natural growth. The earth 
through cycles of ages, passed from a fiery chaos, 
first to an abode for hideous monsters, and then to a 
paradise for man. Simple organisms soon reach ma- 
turity, but complicated ones require centuries. The 
law is the same with the devices of men. The 
puerile nonsense of astrology grew through successive 



50 THE NEW METHOD 

ages into the sublime science of astronomy. The 
alchemists, covered with the thick mist of ignorance, 
labored under a strange delusion for centuries ; but 
their diligent search for power to change base metals 
to gold and mortality to immortality, led them to the 
very portals of the inner temple of Deity, and dis- 
closed the hidden springs of nature's million labora- 
tories. 

There is no reason to think that the management 
of the most complex affairs of society will ever cease 
to be improved ; for the knowledge of truth is pro- 
gressive, and every new fact that is discovered may 
influence our course of action. We are not to blame 
the past because all its wisdom is not adapted to the 
wants of the present time ; much of the wisdom 
which blesses the world to-day may become obsolete 
as the centuries roll by. 

The method of education that prevails in this coun- 
try, and which must prevail until a better one shall 
have been more generally learned, spends its ener- 
gies on the mere trappings and appliances of true 
education, and dealing with these in a manner op- 
posed to the law of mental acquisition, accomplishes 
comparatively little even in what it undertakes. We 
are beginning to understand that to depart from 
Nature's fixed laws is, and must be sure defeat, 
whether those laws relate to matter or to mind ; and 



OF EDUCATION 5 I 

that to ensure obedience to laws it is extremely nec- 
essary to know of their existence. 

True education is the greatest of all arts, and is 
founded on the deepest of all sciences : on these sci- 
ences it depends for direction in all its processes. 
The objective universe is marvellous indeed ; but 
how much more so is the mind that is to comprehend 
it. To educate that mind properly, is the most com- 
plex, as well as the most essential work that mortals 
have to do. A system of culture that involves no 
special knowledge of the being to be educated and no 
professional training for the work, must not only be 
futile in its efforts to educate, but a flagrant outrage 
upon the mind of its recipients. 

Educational philosophy dictates an entire revision 
of the present mode of culture. Directing us to the 
primary source of all knowledge, and to its acquisi- 
tion in Nature's own method, with all the aid that 
science and art can furnish, it prepares the way for 
rapid progress in every science. Captivated by a 
succession of new ideas as he is led on by systematic 
observation, the child soon begins to analyze and in- 
terpret the phenomena of Nature, and to perceive the 
beauty and the harmony that pervade the world. 
In the volume of Nature there are no faults. It is 
God's perfect text-book for the young and the old of 
all nations and for all time. Its ample pages are all 



52 THE NEW METHOD 

illuminated with infinite skill, to allure us to the 
study of the perfect wisdom of the great Author 
of all. 

The deep defects of the predominant culture are 
everywhere apparent. Reversing the order of Nature, 
it violates the laws of development in almost all its 
processes. Vicious alike in its methods and its ten- 
dencies, it crushes out the natural love of knowledge, 
produces intellectual stagnation, petrifies the heart, 
and signally fails to accomplish the high purposes 
which a true culture must accomplish. 

Possessed of faculties susceptible of endless expan- 
sion, and fitted by Nature to study her works and learn 
her mysteries with wonder and delight, the child of 
five years enters school with faculties all alive to the 
marvels that surround him. He has already learned 
intuitively the most obvious properties and simple re- 
lations of every familiar object ; and through his con- 
stant voluntary efforts to express the ideas which 
have entered his mind through these objects and 
their attendant phenomena, he has, since the age of 
about two years, learned the mystery of language. 
Moreover, the ability to talk is the least of the child's 
acquisitions before entering school. The knowledge 
of things around him — the things with which he is 
to deal as long as he lives, is the great acquisition. 

The first five years of school life are the all-impor- 



OF EDUCATION 53 

tant years of the scholastic course : yet the teacher 
accomplishes very little except to stultify the quick 
perceptions of childhood. The reason is obvious. 
He begins by the contravention of Nature's law, 
superimposes arbitrary and unnatural work, and fails 
to perceive that he is to aid that spontaneous educa- 
tion which has already accomplished so much. Those 
wonderful intuitive attainments, without which the 
child would require protection every moment, are all 
overlooked or counted as nothing. The observing 
faculties, those natural avenues of knowledge, with- 
out which all education would be an impossibility, 
are suppressed or practically ignored ; and the child 
is treated as if the only road to learning were through 
the arbitrary signs of ideas — as if the knowledge of 
things were nothing, but the knowledge of words the 
great desideratum. 

We might as well expect an ample harvest from 
sowing in the eternal snows of the Himalaya, as to 
expect much real culture in our primary schools as 
now organized. And the time has now come when 
this inappropriate and profitless course, long sus- 
tained by the power of old tradition, must gradually 
give way for a more philo.sophic and natural one. 
Efforts' to improve our schools of higher grade will 
be of little avail until the method in our primary 



54 'THK NEW METHOD 

schools is radically changed. We are not to modify 
an old method, but to inaugurate a new system. 

But has the missing truth been found so that a 
faultless scheme can at once be adopted ? No science 
is yet perfect. The finite cannot comprehend infinite. 
The general laws of astronomy are known, and an 
eclipse is foretold centuries before it takes place. So 
in the science of education the general principles are 
established, and by their guidance we can make 
rapid progress towards a perfect system of culture. 

A right mode of teaching coincides with nature's 
tendencies, and instead of repressing, guides the 
natural activity of the mind in accordance with the 
laws of its spontaneous evolution, utilizing the child's 
playful activity for available culture. 

Science is the great revolutionary power, — the 
pioneer of every true reform. What hidden stores of 
wisdom she has brought to light, and what mighty 
conquests over nature's forces she has won ! Dur- 
ing the last half century she has revolutionized 
almost every art, and given us all the varied bless- 
ings of the present hour. Science now begins to 
direct the hand of human culture, and will save our 
race from the evils of violated law by saving us from 
ignorance. Empiricism can no longer be trusted to 
direct the energies and aspirations of the mind ; and 
instead of frowning upon a rising science, let us hail 



OF EDUCATION 55 

with transport every new light that can aid us to 
comprehend the realm of universal law in which we 
dwell. 

At this stage of the world's progress, when nations 
are awakening to the right of the majority to rule, it 
is essential both to social and civil prosperity, that 
every one be so educated as to see that he is not at 
liberty to hold to such opinions as his preoccupied 
imagination may fancy, but that he has no right to 
an opinion until he possesses facts, and draws conclu- 
sions from evidence. Great truths have been smoth- 
ered for ages after they were first announced, and 
their discoverers persecuted instead of cherished for 
their manl3'^ defence of them, because an unreasoning 
populace were unable to separate truth from preju- 
dice. If we would but learn the laws of the world's 
progress in science and in civilization, we might be 
saved from such self-defeat, and at the same time 
both gain and give the pleasure of a grateful recog- 
nition of the self-sacrificing spirit of the benefactors 
of our race. 

In one of the Nashua papers of January, may be 
found the following, from the pen of a Milford corre- 
spondent : 

" Last Tuesday evening Professor Sanborn of Dart- 
mouth College favored us with the most sensible 
lecture ever delivered in this town on the subject of 



56 THE NEW METHOD 

education. . . . He alluded also to the folly of in- 
troducing into our schools object-teaching. . . . 
The lecture of the Professor will be the means of 
doing good, and he deserves the thanks of the whole 
community for daring to take such a manly stand 
against a great and growing evil." 

The few assertions made by Professor Sanborn are 
not quite sufficient to convince all who listened of 
the correctness of his views. He stated that object 
teaching is one of the innovations of the day; that it 
comes from the West, and captivates such teachers 
as cannot discriminate between innovation and prog- 
ress. He compared the interest in object teaching 
to the velocipede mania of last year, stating that it 
would last about as long and do about as much good. 

He ridiculed the idea of strolling about for flowers, 
butterflies and everything else for object lessons, and 
enquired when the children would learn to read and 
spell, if time is taken for such work. 

This is the substance of his remarks on that topic. 
It was not necessary to say any more. He succeeded 
well in showing that he knows very little of the sub- 
ject, that he neither understands the methods, nor 
comprehends the philosophy of such instruction ; and 
instead of "deserving the thanks of the whole com- 
munity," it seems to me that he deserves the public 
censure for undertaking to enlighten the community 



OF EDUCATION 57 

on the subject, while he is so ignorant of the first 
principles of primary instruction. Neither the lect- 
urer nor his reporter ever saw one of the object lessons 
which they labor to suppress, and hence their opin- 
ion of them is worth no more than that of a Hindoo 
upon the origin of the Shasters. 

Here we see a single instance among thousands 
that daily occur, of the sad result of that fatal error 
in the education of our time, which, by ignoring the 
sciences that train the mind to logical reasoning, 
gives the educated man but little advantage in reason- 
ing over the uninstructed. The education that does 
not inculcate humility and reservation of judgment 
must be faulty indeed. Mere linguists or mathema- 
ticians as well as the untaught, oftentimes find no 
difficulty in forming an opinion before tbey have 
learned the first fact on the subject; and the un- 
scientific pronounce upon scientific questions with all 
the assertion and audacity of the old astrologers. 

" If we consult reason, and the common testimony 
of ancient and modern times, none of our intellectual 
studies tend to cultivate a smaller number of the 
faculties, in a more partial or feeble manner, than 
mathematics. This is acknowledged by every writer 
on education of the least pretention to judgment and 
experience." Sir William Hamilton. 

" There is no study that could prove more success 



58 THE NEW METHOD 

ful in producing often thorough idleness and vacancy 
of mind, parrot-like repetition and sing-song knowl- 
edge, to the abeyance and destruction of the intel- 
lectual powers, as well as to the loss and paralysis of 
the outward senses, than our traditional study and 
idolatry of language." 

Professor Half or d Va ugha7i . 

" Persons who have been fully educated, according 
to the present system, come to me with the same 
propositions as the untaught and stronger ones, be- 
cause they have a strong conviction that they are 
right. They are ignorant of their ignorance at the 
end of all that education. . . . Until they know 
what are the laws of nature, they cannot clear their 
minds of these, as I say, most absurd inconsistencies; 
and I say again, that the system of education that 
could leave the mental condition of the public body 
in the state in which this subject has found it, must 
have been greatly deficient in some very important 
principle." Professor Faraday. 

' ' The models of the art of estimating evidence are 
furnished by science ; the rules are suggested by 
science ; and the study of science is the most funda- 
mental portion of the practice ; . . . All men do not 
affect to be reasoners, but all profess, and really 
attempt, to draw inferences from experience ; yet 
hardly any one, who has not been a student of the 
physical sciences, sets out with any just idea of what 
the process of interpreting experience really is." 

Mr. fohn Stuart Mill. 



OF EDUCATION 59 

Object teaching does not come from the " West," 
— it conies from the opposite direction, — from learned 
Germany, and dates from the time of Pestalozzi, the 
discoverer of most of its principles. From the be- 
ginning of the present century it has been extending 
in all directions from Germany. The application of 
its principles has been greatly extended in Europe 
during the last thirty years by Froebel, Baroness 
Marenholtz-Bulow, and others. 

Its progress in America has been greatly hindered, 
both b}' the lack of scientific culture on the part of 
most teachers who have attempted it, and the neglect 
of serving an apprenticeship in the application of the 
principles. Americans are much inclined to think 
that nothing is too difficult for them to do, whether 
they have learned to do it or not ; and those who 
attempt this most difficult work without due qualifi- 
cation, not only accomplish very little good, but 
bring the system into disrepute by their want of skill 
in its practice. This is probably what has turned 
Professor Sanborn's face from it; but it seems that 
he was not so deeply impressed with ' ' the folly of 
object teaching" as to think it best to present his 
views in other places where he lectured. I am unable 
to hear of any other place where he mentions the 
subject at all. Yet I may be misinformed. Can it 



6o THE NEW METHOD 

be possible that he thought Milford alone was unable 
to take care of her own interests ? 

The general system to which I have given my 
mind for nearly eighteen years, and which we have 
gradually adopted in Milford, as far as circumstances 
would allow, is the only professional or studied sys- 
tem in the world. To be carried on successfully it 
involves much knowledge of all the things with which 
the teacher deals, including all the sciences to be 
learned, and the being that is to learn them. Hence 
it will be seen that its methods cannot be caught up 
and put into practice b}^ any one, at pleasure, but 
that they must first be learned. This cannot be done 
in a day nor a year; the whole scholastic course is 
the appropriate time, and is none too long ; for it 
involves all that knowledge which constitutes the 
best general education for all places and circum- 
stances in life. 

By object lessons we mean the learning of science 
by actual inspection of the object of study, instead of 
learning a written description or listening to oral 
description. It requires very little penetration to 
see which is the best method. Can we make botanists 
without plants, astronomers without stars, mineralo- 
gists without minerals and philosophers without see- 
ing the objects and phenomena of the world ? The 



OF EDUCATION 6 I 

best description that can be made conveys to the mind 
but a dim shadow of the reality. 

Can we describe the face of our most intimate as- 
sociate so that a stranger would recognize him in 
Broadway to-morrow? Do we know how Vesuvius 
appeared to an observer after learning his descrip- 
tion ? The object method is nature's method. Can 
the rainbow be described so that a blind man who 
has never received one of nature's object lessons on 
colors can gain any correct idea of its splendor ? He 
can gain no idea of the meaning of words expressive 
of color, because object lessons on color are an im- 
possibility with him. 

It is strange "folly " that would close the natural 
inlets of knowledge — the senses, and refuse to teach 
the child anything of the world we inhabit, until an 
artificial method can be created. The artificial 
method is never to be used as a substitute for the 
natural one, but is to be employed to gain what 
knowledge we can of inaccessible things, and of. 
abstractions. 

Anj^ intelligent person who knows what object 
teaching is, can as readily see the superiority of that 
method over all others as he can see the superiority 
of the sun, for illuminating purposes, over the pine 
knots and candles of the last generation. The boy 
that thought the map was the reality, and stated that 



62 THE NEW METHOD 

"North America is about seven inches long," and 
that the " meridians are lines crossing the equator at 
right angels,''' was greatly in need of a few object 
lessons in geography as well as upon angles. 

Of course it is not necessary to always have the 
object present. After we have once seen the rain- 
bow, observed with care all the facts relating to it, 
impressed upon the memory its blended colors, and 
the order of their arrangement, noted all its aspects, 
measured the height of its arch, and its angles with 
the sun, we may then discourse upon it, and study 
the philosophy of its formation at pleasure. 

We have classes from seven to twelve years of age 
in botany, mineralogy, chemistry and most other 
sciences, and their interest and progress equal that 
of the older classes who use books. In botany the 
scholar learns the number, form, size and color of 
petals, stamens, leaves and all other parts by personal 
observation. He is told only such things as he can- 
, not discover, such as names of parts and properties, 
and some of the uses of the plant. In entomology he 
inspects the insect ; in mineralogy the specimen of 
ore, metal or other mineral is present ; in chemistry 
he sees the invisible element separated from its com- 
pound, and with taper in hand he has gained a new 
sense. 

Oral expression immediately follows observation : 



OF EDUCATION 63 

and how eager the child is to tell what he has learned. 
Next is the mathematical investigation of the object, 
including concrete geometry, drawing and arithmeti- 
cal problems. Very young children are interested in 
making mathematical discoveries and computations, 
and at the same time they are indelibly fixing the 
scientific facts in the memory. Last of all follows the 
reproduction in written language of all that has been 
learned upon the object. Of this the child never 
tires, but he acquires descriptive power seldom 
equaled by scholars twice as old, who are trained in 
the common method. 

"But when will the children learn to read and 
spell ?" 

By the object-method the child will not only read 
and spell better at the age of eight or ten years, but 
he will accomplish twice as much in writing, compo- 
sition, and mathematics as in any other, and all these 
branches are learned incidentally, while the main 
work is the pursuit of science. There is no delay in 
the acquisition of knowledge if we first give the child 
a motive for learning, and then present the work in 
the natural order. 

The above statement may be considered extrava- 
gant, but we solicit careful investigation. Moreover, 
there are parallels in nature, which if we would study, 
we need not be surprised. 



64 THE NEW METHOD 

Mark the course of the young child under nature's 
tuition. His first words are names of things of essen- 
tial interest to him. Those words never could have 
been learned if his senses had not taken cognizance 
of the things, and conveyed an idea to his mind. 
The observation of the thing gives rise to the idea, 
and the word is the expression of the idea. The 
word, then, is virtually created by the thing, and 
from it derives its meaning and all its interest. 

In testing a child of two years we found that in a 
single day she used over a hundred different words. 
About three fourths of the words were names of things 
she often saw ; and every thought she expressed was 
suggested by those things. Another test was with a 
boy of five years. He could talk with equal fluency 
in two languages ; but had never been taught in 
either. He learned one in the family, the other in 
the street. Is there any such progress as this in our 
own or any other language in our schools ? If we 
would have the child continue to learn language in 
school as he does before he enters, we must adopt 
nature's method, and furnish him with new ideas 
by daily presenting new objects and phenomena. 
Things before words is clearly the natural order with 
early childhood ; is the law reversed the moment he 
enters school ? 

But a clear idea of the object-method cannot be 



OF EDUCATION 65 

given by words. One who wishes to know how the 
work is conducted must necessarily have an object- 
lesson on object-teaching. Our rooms will be open 
to visitors for a few weeks, beginning about the tenth 
of Ma3^ and all are invited to spend a day or two 
with us. 

It is scarcely necessary to say a word in this com- 
munity upon the merits of the normal system of in- 
struction. Notwithstanding every circumstance has 
l)een unfavorable, except the system itself, the suc- 
cess of this institution from the day it was opened 
has exceeded the expectations of its most sanguine 
friends. Our rooms have always been filled beyond 
their capacity to accommodate ; and our number has 
included the greater part of the advanced scholars of 
this village and vicinity. 

The influence of the normal system in Milford, for 
the past fifteen years, seems to have been beneficial. 
It has qualified a large number of young ladies for 
the profession of teaching ; and, judging from the 
demand for their services, and the wages paid them, 
it would seem that their teaching is valued. The 
average wages of female teachers, in this State, last 
year, was less than twenty-one dollars. The average 
wages of our graduates was forty-two dollars, — nearly 
as much as that of the graduates of the Normal Uni- 
versity of Illinois, which was forty-six dollars. It 



66 THE NEW METHOD 

also seems to have raised the public estimation of the 
value of good learning. Our district, for the last 
year, has paid twice as much per scholar, for instruc- 
tion, as was paid five years ago, and more than twice 
as much as the average in the State. Besides, very 
liberal donations of piano, carpets, paintings, statu- 
ary and other ornaments for the school-rooms, have 
been made by citizens, to supply the place of those 
previously furnished gratuitously, by teachers. 

It is thought that chemical and philosophical appa- 
ratus, cabinets of minerals, and other specimens for 
illustration of natural history will soon be purchased 
so that the sciences of nature, which, if rightly 
taught, constitute the central star in education, may 
be taught in our public schools. I have such articles, 
suj6&cient to illustrate most facts of science, including 
many valuable reference books and charts, which I 
have used during my teaching in Milford, and I 
hereby offer the district the free use of them, such 
as they are, during my absence in foreign countries. 

The natural sciences all culminate in the science of 
human nature ; and are to be learned as a key to 
that highest order of truth — the laws of the human 
mind. Knowledge of moral law is the highest knowl- 
edge within the reach of man. Its real possession 
constitutes the highest order of greatness. Galileo 
and Newton possessed almost intuitive mathematical 



OF EDUCATION 67 

greatness. Socrates and Confucius possessed moral 
greatness. Both these orders of greatness depend 
alike on culture. The one penetrates the regions of 
immensity and measures the stars in their course. 
The other seeks to know the right, and having found 
it, never quails in its defence, but stands by it, with 
a sublimity of purpose that defies all danger, — stands 
b}^ it as the mountain stands when the storm rages 
around its unshaken summit. 

The works of the great Architect, whether material 
or immaterial, are all radiant with His thoughts ; 
and when, through the ennobling tendency of their 
study, we have reached that transcendent order of 
truth to which all other truth is accessory, society 
will be on the highway to social and political pros- 
perity. 

WM. L. WHITTEMORE. 

MiLFORD, April, 1870 



SECTION IV. 



MiLFORD Public Schools, 1875 



REPORT 



BOARD OF EDUCATION 

OF MILFORD, N. H. 

For the Year 1874-5 



A very wise man of ancient time has said that there 
is but one good in the world, and but one evil, — that 
knowledge is the one good, and ignorance the one 
evil. This exalted estimate of the value of knowl- 
edge is becoming more and more general in all civil- 
ized countries. 

Our common schools are the repositories of knowl- 
edge for the people, and should be guarded with 
special care and unceasing vigilance. A well regu- 
ated school system is an essential element of a people's 
prosperity ; for knowledge is the foundation and sup- 
port of our liberties. 



72 THE NEW METHOD 



PRIMARY SCHOOLS 

The importance of these schools and the difficulty 
in properly teaching and managing them is not, we 
fear, sufficiently appreciated. They are the founda- 
tion of our educational system, and unless this is 
firmly and securely laid the whole structure will 
prove a failure. We have been remarkably fortunate 
the past year in having teachers of great merit in 
these responsible places. 

First Primary. — This school has been under the 
charge of Miss Clara E. Crosby during the entire 
year. Good order has been maintained, and very 
commendable progress made in all the studies. 
Through the energy and tact of the teacher, each 
term has been an improvement over the preceding. 

Second Primary. — This school presents a model of 
excellent order, and energetic and spirited teaching, 
joined with activity, lively interest and perfect obedi- 
ence on the part of the scholars. Miss Alice C. 
Gray, teacher. 



OF EDUCATION 73 

Third Primary. — It was found, at the beginning of 
the year, that there were more young children about 
to enter school in the village, than could be accom- 
modated in the second primary; consequently, suit- 
able rooms were secured, and a third primary school 
was opened, under the instruction of several young 
ladies of the high school, each teaching one hour a 
day, and having no other compensation than a 
course of instruction upon the most approved methods 
of primary education. The first class was taught by 
Mar)^ E. Coburn and Helen L. Buttrick, the second 
by Hattie J. Burdick and Kate A. Dickey, and the 
third by Sarah W. Bruce and Clara J. Towne. No 
scholars in town of similar age have made better 
progress than these. The teachers have manifested 
a lively interest in their work, and are entitled to 
much credit for their successful efforts. 

West Pri?nary. — Spring term. Miss Annah E. 
Adams, teacher. By earnest and faithful effort, 
Miss Adams brought this school to a high degree of 
excellence ; but unfortunately, her health failed 
toward the close of the summer term, and being un- 
able to resume her work in autumn, she was suc- 
ceeded by Miss Mary A. Hartshorn, who has taught 
the last two terms with marked ability and great 
success. 



74 I'HE NEW METHOD 



GRAMMAR SCHOOLS 

For many years past there have been two agencies, 
constantly tending to make the grammar schools diffi- 
cult to manage and unsatisfactory in their results. 
One reason why these schools have been so generally 
found in a demoralized condition may be looked for 
in the frequent change of teachers. Very few teach- 
ers have remained in these schools long enough to 
eradicate the existing bad habits they found on enter- 
ing them. 

A second hindrance to success in these schools 
may be found in our defective system of teaching, 
which here begins to manifest its mischievous tend- 
encies too forcibly to be easily mistaken. Young 
children are naturally eager for knowledge ; and 
when we give them real knowledge, such as they can 
assimilate and organize for use, instead of unmeaning 
words and processes, their love of study deepens with 
age. But under existing methods, the love of knowl- 
edge is often crushed out before the child reaches the 
age of ten years, and he takes no interest in anything 
connected with school, except the society of his mates, 
and the various amusements they manage to intro- 
duce to break up the monotony of school work. 



OF EDUCATION 75 

East Grammar. — The spring term was taught by 
Miss H. Juliette Gilson, a teacher of great energj^ 
and superior ability. Much was done to break up 
the ordinary routine, and to cultivate a love of gen- 
eral intelligence, by spirited conversations upon 
science, art, and passing events. 

The fall and winter terms were taught by Miss Isa- 
dore Richardson, who has labored with great perse- 
verance and with success. Since the middle of the 
fall term the school has steadily improved. There 
has been a marked change in the habits of the schol- 
ars, both in respect to deportment and attention to 
study. 

West Grammar. — Teacher, spring and winter 
terms, Miss Charlotte S. Robbins ; fall term, Miss 
Luella C. Hutchinson. Through the well-directed 
efforts of both teachers this school closes the year in 
fine condition, although it was badly demoralized at 
the beginning. The scholars are cheerful and happy, 
and appear to enjoy school better than ever before. 



76 THE NKW METHOD 

HIGH SCHOOL 

Principal, Mr. G. B. French, spring term. At the 
end of the spring term, Mr. French closed his con- 
nection with the high school, having served faithfully 
for two years, and given ver)^ general satisfaction. 
He was assisted by Miss Ellen W. Beane, of Norton, 
a very intelligent and accomplished lady, whose ser- 
vices were highl}^ appreciated. 

Mr. French was succeeded by Mr. vS. J. Blanpied, 
who has had charge of the school since the beginning 
of the fall terra. Mr. Blanpied is a teacher of thor- 
ough culture and considerable experience. Under 
his judicious management the school has gradually 
improved, and has accomplished all that could be 
reasonably expected. 

GENERAL REMARKS 

There has been a growing conviction on the part 
of many of our citizens, that the high school for 
several years past has been managed upon a plan 
hardly in harmony with the principles of economy, 
and equal rights. 

It is alleged, first, that the study of the dead lan- 
guages has been held up as the one essential thing 
in education, and that the best efforts of teachers. 



OK ]':DrcATioN 77 

and of a small number of scholars have been given 
to that work, while all branches of English education 
have been slighted, and looked down upon with a 
feeling bordering upon contempt, thus spoiling the 
education of ninety-nine scholars who must complete 
their studies here because, possibly, the one hun- 
dredth may wish to go to college. 

Second, it is alleged that this policy is not only 
ruinous to the interests of the high school, but is be- 
ginning to react upon the lower grades, as it fails to 
furnish teachers suitably qualified to teach the com- 
mon branches of English education ; and third, that 
this policy is not only fatal to the interests of true 
education, but annually wastes a large amount of the 
public money. 

In repl)^ to such charges as these, the board feel 
called upon to state such facts as have come under 
their observation, and then leave the subject for 
others to dispose of as they will. 

It should be borne in mind that in all small places 
like Milford, the standard for admission to the high 
school must necessarily be much lower than in towns 
many times larger. In a town like this about one 
tenth of the scholars must be in the high school, 
without much regard to age or scholarship. In large 
cities not more than one in fifty, or even one in a 
hundred is in the high school. Hence such scholars 



78 THE NEW METHOD 

as the two younger classes, always numbering more 
than one-half of our school, would be found in the 
grammar schools of all large places. In the classifi- 
cation of the high school this fact has hardly been 
recognized ; consequently much elementary work, 
which is of first importance in education, has been 
left undone, and scholars have worked at great dis- 
advantage in the higher branches. In the written 
examination of the school last June, the higher classes 
were found more thorough in arithmetic than in any 
other branch of English education. Seven of the 
nine graduates failed in the following example : 
" What is the value of five acres of land at three 
cents per foot?" In the next example four failed: 
" What is the amount of $400. for three years six 
months at seven and three tenths per cent, simple 
interest ?" 

The sixty per cent, of failures did not arise from 
slight mistakes, but from failing to find the proper 
method of solution. 

This is a specimen of the best work presented while 
the poorest work was in the understanding and use 
of our own excellent language — a language which, 
in the opinion of foreign scholars, is hereafter to gain 
the sovereignty of the world. 

During the spring term the time of two teachers 
was divided between the different branches of study 



OF EDUCATION 79 

as follows : Sixty per cent, to instruction in lan- 
guages, including our own language ; twenty-five 
per cent, to mathematics ; fifteen per cent, to science. 
There were five classes in foreign languages. The 
classification and division of time is about the same 
as it has been for several years past. It clearly indi- 
cates a one-sided culture, which was fully substan- 
tiated by the examination. A symmetrical culture 
would be more favored by a division more nearly 
like the following : Thirty per cent, of the time for 
mathematics ; Thirty per cent, for science ; thirty 
per cent, for language ; ten per cent, for art. 

At the present time we have nine scholars in lan- 
guages, and three classes for their accommodation. 
There was some pressure last term for the formation 
of two more classes for the accommodation of three 
other scholars. 

A false classification has been one of the chief 
agencies in bringing the school into its present con- 
dition. It has been divided and subdivided into 
nearly three times as many classes as there ought to 
be. With two teachers the scholars have been under 
instruction only about one-fourth of the day, while 
with one teacher and a proper classification each 
scholar would be under instruction considerably more 
than one-third of the day. By this means much more 
thorough work would be accomplished, not only in 



8o THU NEW METHOD 

mathematics, science and the languages, but there 
would be time to spare for drawing, writing and other 
general work. 

North School. — This school was taught by Miss E. 
Jennie Fifield until the close of the fall term, when 
she retired, highly esteemed both by scholars and 
parents. Under Miss Fifield's steady and careful 
instruction for four consecutive terms the school 
reached a high degree of excellence. 

Miss Fifield was succeeded in the winter term by 
Miss Annah E. Adams, who fully maintained her 
reputation as a good disciplinarian and excellent 
teacher. 

Pine Valley School. — This school has been fortunate 
in retaining through the year the services of Mrs. 
Harriet L/. Cleaves, an experienced and reliable 
teacher, remarkably well adapted to the important 
place she occupies. We hope she may be retained 
for terms to come. 

Howard School. — Miss Fannie Bullard, teacher. 
This school always appears well and is one of the 
best in town. The teacher is active and energetic ; 
the scholars, studious and cheerful. Under these 
conditions progress is always certain. 



OF EDUCATION 8l 

Shedd School. — Spring term. This school was abl}' 
taught by Miss Mary A. Hartshorn who resigned at 
the close of the spring term. Miss Anna ly. Colburn, 
a recent graduate of the high school, succeeded her. 
Being unskilled both in the theory and practice of 
teaching, Miss Colburn was hardly able at first to 
meet the demands of her new employment ; but the 
experience of the first few weeks, joined with energy 
and good judgment, enabled her to bring the school 
into very fair condition before the close of her first 
term. 

Osgood School. — This school has been favored by 
the instruction of Miss Catherine A. Tuttle through 
the entire year. Miss Tuttle is a fine scholar and a 
careful and thorough teacher. Under her superior 
instruction the school has done remarkably well. 



Abbott School. — The spring term was taught by 
Miss Emma Bennett ; but, unfortunately for the 
school, her valuable services could be retained no 
longer. The instruction was spirited and thorough, 
and the progress of the scholars highly satisfactory. 
Miss Bennett was followed by Miss E. A. Thomas of 
Hudson, who kept the fall term with fair success, 
and by Miss Laura A. Tilton, who.se first efforts at 



82 THE NEW METHOD 

teaching during the last term have been very satisfac- 
tory. 

Duncklee Hill School. — Miss Ermina E. Holt still 
gives her best endeavors to this school. The scholars 
have been kept close to their studies and to the rules. 
Miss Holt has great skill in ensuring diligence, good 
behavior and love of study. 

It may be seen by the foregoing brief remarks upon 
the different schools, that they have been, generally, 
prosperous through the year. In two or three in- 
stances the obstacles in the way of success were 
greater than the teacher was able, at once, to remove ; 
but during the winter term every school has been in 
very fair condition. 

The perfect teacher has not yet made his appear- 
ance in the world, but it is not wise to emblazon 
every fault, — a few deserve mention. 

Manner. Teachers should be spirited, lively, 
energetic, and refined in their manner, brief, direct, 
clear and impressive in all they say, both in teaching 
and governing, but never noisy and blustering. 

Pronunciation. Closely allied to a faulty utter- 
ance in several of our schools, is a false pronuncia- 
tion of words. We raise no issue with the disciples 
of Worcester or Webster, but do protest against the 
prevalent violations of both taste and all dictionaries. 



OP EDUCATION 83 

We insist that together is never togather ; that often 
has no / in its pronunciation ; that a in half and 
laugh is never correctly pronounced as a in man. 

Ventilation. Many of the school rooms are often 
too warm or else cold — not ventilated at all or else 
carelessly ventilated, endangering the health of 
scholars from colds or from poisonous gases. By 
careful study and constant attention, the teacher 
could often make the scholars more comfortable, and 
thereby secure better order and attention to study. 

MODERN CUIvTURE 

In all we have said of our schools thus far, our 
standpoint has been the traditional system of educa- 
tion, which had its origin centuries ago, when 
modern civilization was in its infancy — a system 
which has been long sustained in this country by the 
power of old tradition and by blind habit, notwith- 
standing its want of adaptation to the present time. 
From this point of view we may speak of our schools 
in terms of commendation ; but when we view them 
in the light of modern educational science, and com- 
pare them with what we ought to have and might 
have, the comparison at once becomes a contrast. 

It is neither longer schools nor more money to 
expend on them that we stand in greatest need of, 



84 THK NEW METHOD 

but the overshadowing and pressing necessit}' is the 
introduction and use of the educational ideas of the 
nineteenth century. 

We are clinging with extreme tenacity, to a sys- 
tem of education which was better suited to the wants 
of earlier times, but is out of harmony with the in- 
tellectual necessities of modern life ; a system which 
idolizes the past and worships precedent and author- 
ity. Progress consists not in rejecting the past, but 
in assimilating and reorganizing its truth into har- 
mony with new circumstances and new requirements. 

The deep defects of the predominant culture are 
everywhere apparent. It violates the laws of devel- 
opment in almost all its processes. Vicious alike in 
its methods and its tendencies, it crushes out the 
natural love of knowledge, and signally fails to 
accomplish the high purposes which a true culture 
must accomplish. We must extend the knowledge 
of our predecessors and correct their errors. Our 
errors will be corrected by our successors. Obedi- 
ence to obsolete forms must no longer be held forth 
as a virtue, for the knowledge of truth is progressive. 

Civilization has its inflexible laws. Institutions 
are not born perfect and adapted, without change, to 
all time and all circumstances. The history of all 
civilizations plainly shows that perpetual stagnation 
is the fatal consequence of extreme conservatism. 



OF EDUCATION 85 

Within the memory of some of our citizens we have 
given up many of the methods of our ancestors. Old 
ways are tedious and too expensive. We no longer 
occupy the stage-coach for the better part of a week, 
when we have a few hours' business to transact fifty 
or a hundred miles away. A modern idea, expressed 
in the locomotive, saves us one-half the fare and two 
or three days' time, to say nothing of personal com- 
fort. 

We can hardly realize the magnitude and import- 
ance of modern discoveries and inventions. Almost 
every art has been transformed within the last iorty 
years, and our manufacturers and business men would 
become bankrupt if they should ignore modern ideas 
and methods in their business as they are ignored in 
education. 

We have made wonderful progress in material 
prosperity, but very little improvement in the means 
we employ for our emancipation from the thraldom 
of ignorance and immorality. You saw quite as 
good instruction in the old brick house by the bridge 
twenty- five years ago, as we have seen in most of our 
schools the past few years. We have better school- 
houses, more .studies and longer schools, but the 
same primitive method of teaching. 

Kducators from foreign countries have justly criti- 
cised our school polity, as lavishing money upon 



86 THE NEW METHOD 

school buildings, furniture and fixtures, while we 
regard the qualifications of teachers as of secondary 
importance. 

The discoveries of modern science have given us 
the telegraph, railroads and steam-boats, and brought 
to our doors all the products of nature and of art. 
Yet there has been no greater progress in the sciences 
which underlie industrial prosperity, than in those 
which unfold the laws of mental culture. In one 
case science has been utilized, in the other ignored. 

When a steamship is to be built, all the knowledge 
in the world, upon the application of steam power 
and ship building, is brought to bear upon the enter- 
prise. The same is true in many of the arts and 
manufactures ; but how different it is in education ! 

On completing his general education the candidate 
for either of the learned professions must spend years 
in learning the special knowledge of the profession 
he would enter. The merchant goes to the mercan- 
tile college and the mechanic to his apprenticeship ; 
but the teacher, whose work is the most complex 
and difficult that mortals have to do, goes at once in- 
to practice, although as ignorant of the laws of men- 
tal development as the children he undertakes to 
teach. 

That such is the status of education is not the 
fault of teachers, but of public sentiment. Very few 



OF EDUCATION 87 

have investigated the subject far enough to know 
that there is any science of education, except what 
anj'one may know intuitively. Yet in some parts of 
the old world teaching has recentl}' become a learned 
profession, and the most learned of all professions, 
requiring six years of special study and training. 

Most men hate new ideas. What has been the 
history of the introduction of every modern improve- 
ment which blesses the world today ? How did the 
public behave towards Fulton when he declared that 
steam power would some day propel ships across the 
Atlantic ? towards Stephenson, when he announced 
his plan for moving a train of cars by .steam twenty 
miles an hour? towards Field, when he thought a 
message could be sent across the ocean with lightning 
speed ? Each of these great benefactors was ridi- 
culed and accused of foolishness or insanity ; yet we 
have already realized even more than they promised. 

If the building of the first steamer had depended 
upon the vote of the majority, when would it have 
been built ? Private fortunes were expended before 
the public had any faith in its practicability or in its 
possibility. But when the boat was seen to move, 
and the "rattling car" was heard, when telegrams 
from central Europe told us of battles before the 
" cannon's roar " had ceased, men were compelled to 
believe. 



88 THE NEW METHOD 

If we would but learn the laws of the world's prog- 
ress in civilization, and qualify ourselves to distin- 
guish between truth and error, we might save our- 
selves from that self-defeat which marks, not only 
the present, but all past ages. Great truths have 
been smothered for centuries after they were first 
announced, and their discoverers persecuted instead 
of cherished for their manly defence of them. Bruno, 
the Italian astronomer, was chased through France, 
England, Germany and Switzerland, for teaching 
that the sun and some of the planets are as large as 
the earth. At last he was arrested, taken to Rome, 
and burnt at the stake in the year 1600. GalileQ 
would have met the same fate for teaching that the 
earth revolves around the sun, had he not, on his 
knees, retracted all he had taught, and promised to 
desist from farther teaching. Sixteen years later he 
published a book on the motions, size and distances 
of the heavenly bodies, and was again seized and com- 
pelled to abjure the doctrine it taught as false and 
pernicious. He was then cast into prison, where he 
died after ten years of most cruel treatment, and he 
was denied a decent burial. Thus perished the most 
illustrious and devoted scholar of the age, because 
his teaching was not in harmony with existing tradi- 
tional authority. These illustrations show the atti- 



OF EDUCATION 89 

tude of European civilization toward science at the 
beginning of the seventeenth century. 

In still earlier times scientific men did not dare to 
teach publicly at all ; but at the close of life left the 
result of their study in writing, as a legacy to the 
world, when they had passed beyond the reach of its 
cruelty. 

In every age of the world's history, millions upon 
millions of human beings have perished from lack of 
knowledge ; yet, in every age, knowledge has been 
met as an intruder in the world. Had the spirit of 
toleration which is now, slowly, but surely gaining a 
place in modern society, ruled in ages past, instead 
of the intolerance which has so hindered the increase 
and diffusion of knowledge, might not the light which 
once shone in Alexandria, the birth-place of real 
science and scientific methods — might not the wis- 
dom of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Hero, Euclid and 
a hundred other immortal names which there found 
a place under the fostering care of the illustrious 
Ptolemies, have come down the centuries with in- 
creasing power, to illuminate the long night of ig- 
norance through which the world has passed ? 

The mission of science is just begun. It has had 
but here and there a solitary disciple ; yet it has 
helped us much in our remote interests. Our im- 
mediate and greatest interests can be regulated only 



90 THE NEW METHOD 

through the personal possession of scientific knowl- 
edge. Among those who have been thoroughly and 
symmetrically cultured in science, there is but one 
opinion as to its value. What is a contrary opinion 
worth, which is not based upon such culture ? Many 
of our colleges practically ignore science, and gradu- 
ate young men who know less of it than boys of ten 
years ought to know and do know in some parts of 
Europe. Your children labor through twelve years 
of school life, and after all graduate in worse than 
Egyptian darkness respecting the most useful of all 
knowledge, such as all people would use, if they pos- 
sessed it, every day of their lives. 

"It does seem to me strange, to use the mildest 
word, that people whose destiny it is to live, even for- 
a few short years, on this planet which we call the 
earth, and who intend to live as comfortably and 
wholesomely as they can, should in general be so 
careless about the constitution of this same planet, 
and of the laws and facts on which depend, not 
merely their comfort and their wealth, but their 
health and their very lives, and the health and the 
lives of their children and descendants. . . . 

"But as for mankind thriving by common-sense : 
they have not thriven by common-sense, because 
they have not used their common-sense according to 
that regulated method which is called science. In 
no age, in no country, as yet, have the majority of 
mankind been guided, I will not say by the love of 



OF EDUCATION 9 1 

God, and by the fear of God, but not even by sense 
and reason. Not sense and reason, but nonsense and 
unreason — prejudice and fancy — greed and haste — 
have led them to such results as were to be expected 
— to superstitions, persecutions, wars, famines, pesti- 
lence, hereditary disease, poverty, waste — waste in- 
calculable, and now too often irremediable — waste of 
life, of labor, of capital, of raw material, of soil, of 
manure, of every bounty which God has bestowed on 
man, till whole countries, some of the finest in the 
world, seem ruined forever ; and all because men 
will not learn nor obey those physical laws of the 
universe which (whether we be conscious of them 
or not) are all around us, like w^alls of iron and of 
adamant — say rather, like some vast machine, ruth- 
less though beneficent, among the wheels of which, 
if we entangle ourselves in our rash ignorance, they 
will not stop to set us free, but crush us, as they 
have crushed whole nations and whole races ere now 
to powder. . . . 

" To those who believe in God, and try to see all 
things in God, the most minute natural phenomenon 
cannot be secular. It must be divine ; I say deliber- 
ately, divine ; and I can use no less lofty word. The 
grain of dust is a thought of God ; God's power made 
it ; God's wisdom gave it whatsoever qualities or 
properties it may possess. Only look at all created 
things in this light — look at them as what they are, 
the expressions of God's mind and will concerning 
this universe in which we live — "the voice of God 
revealed in facts " — and then you will not fear physi- 



92 THE NEW METHOD 

cal science, for you will be sure that, the more you 
know of physical science, the more you will know of 
the works and of the will of God." — Rev. Charles 
Kmgsley, of England. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES 

" Our whole system of instruction requires an hon- 
est, thorough, and candid revision. It has been for 
centuries the child of authority and precedent. God 
intended us for progress, and we counteract his de- 
sign when we deify antiquity, and bow down and 
worship an opinion, not because it is either wise or 
true, but merely because it is ancient." — Francis 
Wayland, D.D., late President of Brown University. 

" We display a singular disregard of the plain in- 
dications of nature, who herself points out the order 
in which the faculties should be drawn out into action. 
We have inverted the natural order just as complete- 
ly as possible. And this inversion of the order of 
nature, carries with it the unfortunate consequences 
that no satisfactory knowledge is acquired at last. 
— F. A. P. Barnard, LL.D., President of Columbia 
College. 

The pioneer of material progress has fought his 
battle and is victorious. His victory has also made 
the vanquished truly victorious, for it raises both 
the 'just and the unjust ' into a higher civilization. 
But the advocate of educational reform has under- 
taken a more difficult task — more difficult because he 



OF EDUCATION 93 

can do nothing without the consent of the public, and 
the public can overturn his work at pleasure, even 
just as he is ready to demonstrate its value. With 
every new victory the progress of science is acceler- 
ated ; but the power that crushes truth to earth 
shackles itself. 

It will be the object of the next few paragraphs to 
give a brief outline of the course clearly indicated by 
the educational science of the present time. 

True education is as many sided as the mind that 
is to receive it ; and the mind is as many sided as the 
sum total of human knowledge. In education there 
can be but one true method, and that method coin- 
cides with nature's tendencies and guides the mind 
in accordance with the law of its spontaneous 
evolution. 

In the study of the laws of mental development our 
success must be limited, unless we get at the general 
law of life by studying the simpler forms of living 
things. There is one law of development : it begins 
in the lowest forms of plant life and ends in the phy- 
sical and mental development of man, becoming 
more and more complex as it ascends into higher 
orders of plant and animal life. Nothing in nature 
stands solitary and alone. Every part of the world 
is interlaced with every other part, and is more or 
less dependent upon every other part. Man himself 



94 THE NEW METHOD 

is linked by visible or invisible chains, with every 
atom of matter on the globe. He is as intimately 
connected with the three kingdoms of nature as the 
tree with the earth and the air which its roots and 
leaves penetrate ; nor can this intimate connection 
cease for a moment. The unity of nature establishes 
the unity of science. The unity of science makes the 
study of education a necessity, and gives a clew to 
the natural order of mental unfolding. 

Man is a product of nature and the culmination of 
her works ; his whole being is permeated through 
and through by nature's forces and nature's laws. 
The highest and most valuable knowledge that man 
can possess is knowledge of himself. Knowledge of 
himself is the culmination of all science — the great 
problem in whose solution all science is concerned. 
The growth of the tree no more depends on the ele- 
ments of earth, air and water, and the forces of nature 
that marshal them into life and organization, than 
man depends upon a knowledge of the whole realm 
of nature if he would attain to either physical or 
mental perfection. 

We violate the laws of life at every step, and shall 
continue to do so, until we qualify ourselves to under- 
stand them in all their complexity, by the proper 
study of all classes of objects and phenomena — all 
the laws and all the forces of nature — laws of matter 



OF EDUCATION 95 

and laws of mind. In the volume of nature there are 
no faults. It is God's perfect text-book for the 
young and the old of all nations and for all time. Its 
ample pages are all illuminated with infinite skill, to 
allure us to the study of the perfect wisdom of the 
great Author of all. Ignorance of the laws of life 
confers no exemption from the failure and suffering 
consequent upon their violation. Nature's inexor- 
able and unpitying penalties are meant to coerce us 
to the study of her works, when their exceeding 
beauty fails to allure our attention. 

The fatal error in the educational schemes of all 
ages has been the futile attempt to ornament the 
mind without informing it ; hence the world has but 
just discovered even the existence of those laws whose 
violation renders human life so narrow, so full of 
pain and disappointment. I^et us not boast of a high 
civilization while the lives of half the human race 
are crushed out before they reach the age of seven 
years, and not one in ten of the other half makes a 
successful life of three score years. 

The first law of mental development is symmetry. 
Moreover this law manifests itself in all normal de- 
velopment from the crystallization of the snow-flake, 
through all gradations of plant and animal life. By 
what perversity or blindness has the prevailing cult- 
ure so completely excluded this law till the present 



96 THE NEW METHOD 

time? In the vegetable kingdom development will 
not take place at all unless the conditions favor sym- 
metrical development. A grain of wheat is composed 
of about a dozen elements chemically combined into 
three classes of compounds. Four of these elementary 
substances are derived, directly or indirectly, from 
the atmosphere, and the rest from the soil. If a 
single element is deficient, the grain will not thrive ; 
and if one element is entirely wanting, not one kernel 
of wheat will grow, even if all other conditions are 
most favorable. The food of man, in all its variet}^ 
is made up of the same three classes of compounds 
somewhat extended, though containfiig very few ad- 
ditional elements. If either the mineral, the car- 
bon, or the nitrogen class were left out of our food 
for a single month death would be the result. This 
law extends to the natural growth and unfolding of 
the human mind. Violated law tells more fatally on 
childhood than upon age. The result of violating 
the law of physical development is disease or death, 
while the violation of the law of mental development 
stultifies or paralyzes the faculties of the mind. 

From the beginning to the end of general educa- 
tion, symmetry is the one essential law; without it, 
all systems of education will prove a failure. The 
child just entering school, possesses every faculty, or 
at least the germ of every faculty, found in the ma- 



OF KDUCATION 97 

tiire mind. He can observe, remember, compare and 
reasoti*, but he must do these as a child. He wants 
ideas, not the signs and symbols of ideas ; he wants 
knowledge itself, for he can use it ; but he has no im- 
mediate use for the arbitrary signs of knowledge. He 
delights in the use of his senses ; by their exercise 
he has already learned the most obvious properties, 
simple relations and uses, as well as the names of all 
familiar things. He has many thoughts about these 
things, and has learned how to express them. 

Education must be begun and continued as a unit. 
The first week in school should represent all the great 
branches of human knowledge — science, language, 
mathematics and art ; not in so many separate lessons 
or exercises, but all organized, as it were, and as in- 
timately connected as the trunk, roots and branches 
of a tree. Curiosity and imitation, the natural love 
of knowing and doing, must both be gratified. One 
of the chief duties of the teacher is to direct the child 
how to observe, and where to observe, and how to as- 
similate and express the result of observation in oral 
and written language, in mathematical language, and 
in the language of art. 

" In place of this rude and crude, and now happily 
obsolescent theory, a deeper philosophy is leading us 
to inquire into the nature of the undeveloped mind, 
and the true order of the development of its faculties. 



98 THE NEW METHOD 

... I need hardly point out what a change in all 
our methods this change in our philosophy implies ; 
for it involves the doctrine that the true place to 
begin the teaching of all art, all science, all knowl- 
edge, is the primary school ; and I am not in the least 
afraid of the seeming paradox. Rather I would earn- 
estly maintain that, unless we treat the child in the 
primary school as the germ and embryo of all he is 
destined afterward to become, our education will be 
doomed to ignominious failure. Whatever is to enter 
into the higher stages of education is to have its seed 
planted there, or it never will be planted." — William 
P. Atkinson, Professor of Literature, Massachusetts In- 
stitnte of Tecluiology . (From a lecture at the National 
Teachers' Association at Elmira, N. Y., 1873.) 

The second fundamental law is, that education be- 
gins with the concrete and not with the abstract. 
The child, under nature's tuition, before entering 
school observes this law, and hence the rapid prog- 
ress he makes in the knowledge of his surroundings, 
in language, and in intellectual quickness and clear- 
ness ; but as soon as he enters school this law is 
completely reversed ; the observing faculties, those 
natural avenues of knowledge, without which all 
education would be an impossibility, are suppressed 
or practically ignored, and the child is treated as if 
the only road to learning were through the arbitrary 
signs of ideas. His wonderful intuitive attainments 
are all overlooked or counted as nothing, and the 



OF EDUCATION 99 

teacher begins by superimposing unnatural work in 
order to enable the child, as quickly as possible, to 
learn lessons about things instead of learning things 
as before entering school — he is set to acquiring 
second-hand knowledge, instead of being directed in 
the acquisition of real knowledge in a natural way, 
and as a consequence, his mind becomes vague and 
abstracted in its tendencies and habits. Books are 
but one element in true education ; libraries alone, 
cannot make learned men. The best books are read 
the least, because our education neither gives a taste 
for useful knowledge, nor the ability to understand 
the best books. 

The third law is, that education begins in the 
simple and not in the complex. The violation of this 
and the preceding law has made the study of arith- 
metic very tedious, and unsatisfactory. The com- 
plex and the abstract are so strangely mixed with the 
concrete and simple, that a large part of the usual 
course serves rather to confuse and weaken the facul- 
ties than to strengthen them. 

In the ordinary study of science we begin not only 
in the abstract, but also in the complex, and violate 
two laws, at least. 

There are mountains so steep they cannot be 
climbed ; others are abrupt on one side, but can 
easily be ascended from another side, by travelling 



lOO THK NEW METHOD 

Up a long, smooth, inclined plane. Thus it is with 
the sciences. The method in our schools is to try to 
climb the steepest side of the hill of science, and we 
slide back nearly as fast as we ascend, mistaking our 
efforts to climb, for real progress. If we would un- 
derstand such a complex study as human physiology 
and the laws of health, we must pass over the in- 
clined plane of all plant and animal life ; and in trav- 
elling this inclined plane, the learner will find a cult- 
ure, broad and symmetrical, and full of meaning and 
interest at every step. Science, language, mathemat- 
ics, and art are all harmoniously combined in the 
proper study of the simplest plant. And the reason 
this method delights the child is because it is the 
method of nature. He reads at every step the lan- 
guage of the Infinite, and his thoughts are naturally 
led from " Nature up to Nature's God." 

Respectfully submitted, 

WM. Iv. WHITTEMORE, l Board 
CHAS. B. TUTTlvE, [ of 

SUMNER B. EMERSON, ) Education 



TEB 5 1912 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



•Fife 6 1912 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



# 



021 349 214 7 






=r« 












'■v^-:^ 












■..— =^B^4T.-. '••■■. _■' 






-j;;,-i;-y.i-t-.*.: 



^ ' ■ - ,r\~?-.' 






.ir5t-=i 



' "zi sii 



\'^£\- ':$ 'iitl5:^^"S 






